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ARV given to HIV-positive children boosts preventive power of key malaria drug, study shows

An antiretroviral (ARV) drug given to HIV-positive children "can boost the preventive power of a key malaria drug," according to a study conducted in Uganda and presented last week at the 19th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, ScienceNow reports.

16 Mar 2012

FDA revises safety information on statin labels

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced it is revising safety information on the labels of some statins (cholesterol lowering drugs).

1 Mar 2012

Burma unable to expand HIV, TB treatment programs without more donor support, MSF report says

Approximately 85,000 HIV-positive people in Burma, also known as Myanmar, are in need of antiretroviral treatment (ART) and cannot access it "due to a lack of funding, despite renewed international engagement with the government amid a wave of political reform, according to a report released Wednesday" by the medical aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), the Associated Press/CBS News reports.

23 Feb 2012

Study reveals potential strength of different anti-HIV combination drugs

Using a mathematical formula that carefully measures the degree to which HIV infection of immune system cells is stalled by antiretroviral therapy, AIDS experts at Johns Hopkins have calculated precisely how well dozens of such anti-HIV drugs work, alone or in any of 857 likely combinations, in suppressing the virus. Results of the team's latest research reveal how some combinations work better than others at impeding viral replication, and keeping the disease in check.

19 Feb 2012

SAMHD1 protein cuts off raw material that HIV needs to create DNA and replicate

A protein that protects some of our immune cells from the most common and virulent form of HIV works by starving the virus of the molecular building blocks that it needs to replicate, according to research published online in Nature Immunology.

13 Feb 2012

Forum for Collaborative HIV Research suggests new approach for conducting Phase 3 HIV clinical trials

As the war on HIV/AIDS begins its fourth decade, medical researchers, pharmaceutical manufacturers, patient advocates and government regulators face a new and unexpected scientific challenge: how to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of promising new antiretroviral drugs when the two traditional study designs – the superiority trial and the non-inferiority trial – are no longer useful in showing improvements in both "treatment experienced" patients and those who have never received drug therapy (treatment-naive patients).

7 Feb 2012

J&J will not join Medicines Patent Pool; Company's pharma head says mechanism could 'cause disaster'

Pharmaceutical company "Johnson & Johnson has rejected calls to offer patent rights on its HIV medicines to generic drug companies through a" Medicines Patent Pool, created to promote low-cost antiretroviral drugs in low-income countries and the development of new drug combinations and formulations, the Financial Times reports.

4 Jan 2012

Children's Hospital project to investigate effectiveness of BET antagonists against HIV

Terri Finkel, M.D., Ph.D., chief of Rheumatology at Children's Hospital and Professor of Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, will pursue an innovative global health research project, titled "Use of a BET Antagonist to Control and Cure HIV Infection."

8 Nov 2011

Study provides blueprint for design of new HIV drugs

Scientists have moved a step closer to understanding how one of our body's own proteins helps stop the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1) in its tracks.

7 Nov 2011

UC Merced professor designs powerful chemical inhibitor against HIV

In a significant step toward reducing the threat of HIV, UC Merced Professor Patricia LiWang has designed what may be the most effective chemical inhibitor against infection of the virus.

3 Nov 2011

Starting HIV therapy within two weeks of TB treatment increases survival by 33%

Timing is everything when treating patients with both HIV and tuberculosis. Starting HIV therapy in such patients within two weeks of TB treatment, rather than two months as is the current practice, increases survival by 33 percent, according to a large-scale clinical trial in Cambodia led by researchers at Children's Hospital Boston and the Immune Disease Institute.

20 Oct 2011

Dual drug sneaks across the blood-brain barrier to fight HIV

In an advance toward eliminating pockets of infection in the brain that help make HIV disease incurable, scientists report the development of new substances that first plug the biological vacuum cleaner that prevents anti-HIV drugs from reaching the brain and then revert to an active drug to treat HIV.

14 Oct 2011

India's Aurobindo Pharma first major generic drugmaker to Join UNITAID's Medicines Patent Pool

"India's Aurobindo Pharma has become the first major generic drugmaker to join" the Medicines Patent Pool, launched by the UNITAID health financing system and "designed to make HIV/AIDS treatments more widely available to the poor," Reuters reports.

12 Oct 2011

Poor hospital supplies could spell danger for vulnerable patients

It was found that most hospitals operate with less than a month's supply of many essential medicines, leaving patients vulnerable if local distributors are unable to import them through fragile international supply chains.

29 Sep 2011

Synthetic lectins inhibit HIV from entering cells

University of Utah researchers have discovered a new class of compounds that stick to the sugary coating of the AIDS virus and inhibit it from infecting cells - an early step toward a new treatment to prevent sexual transmission of the virus.

23 Sep 2011

New microbicide may block AIDS virus from infecting cells

23 Sep 2011

Gilead’s new 4 in 1 combo HIV pill works

Gilead Sciences Inc's four-drug experimental HIV pill worked as well as a regimen containing protease inhibitor Reyataz in the second pivotal trial of the drug, the company announced this Monday. Although the trial succeeded, it did not show the experimental pill, called the Quad, was superior to the Reyataz regimen and Gilead shares fell less than a percentage point.

20 Sep 2011

Liposomes block HIV infection in early tests

Could engineered fatty particles help prevent AIDS? Liposomes block HIV infection in early tests; could be a cost-effective preventive for developing countries

20 Sep 2011

Computer models that predict response to treatment

Details of computer models that can predict the chances of a patient responding to their HIV drugs with 80% accuracy are published today in the journal AIDS. The models were developed by the HIV Resistance Response Database Initiative (RDI) using almost half a million pieces of data from approximately 6,000 clinical cases from hundreds of clinics around the world. The models are now available online as part of an experimental treatment support tool, HIV-TRePS.

14 Sep 2011

IPS examines DNDi program to develop pediatric HIV drugs

Inter Press Service profiles a program launched by the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi) to develop antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) specifically designed for children living with HIV/AIDS.

31 Aug 2011