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To reduce spread of HIV/AIDS, IFRC calls for more focus on IDU programs

Ahead of World AIDS Day, the International Federation of the Red Cross on Friday released a report (.pdf) calling for governments around the world to do more to help stop the spread of HIV/AIDS among populations of injecting drug users (IDUs), the Associated Press reports (Heilprin, 11/25).

30 Nov 2010

Merck announces initial results from ISENTRESS Phase III study in HIV-1

Merck today reported initial results from the Phase III study investigating the efficacy and safety of a treatment regimen including ISENTRESS® (raltegravir) Tablets once daily in treatment-naïve adult patients infected with HIV-1. ISENTRESS is indicated in combination with other antiretroviral agents for the treatment of HIV-1 infection in treatment-naïve and treatment-experienced adults.

29 Nov 2010

Media outlets continue to follow major HIV/AIDS developments this week

Media outlets continued to track the major developments in HIV/AIDS this week, including: prevention research using an antiretroviral; new UNAIDS estimates of HIV/AIDS around the world; and Pope Benedict XVI's stance on condoms for HIV prevention.

25 Nov 2010

New drug research, incidence rates and Pope's comments brighten AIDS outlook

The Associated Press: "In the nearly 30 years the AIDS epidemic has raged, there has never been a more hopeful day than this. Three striking developments took place Tuesday: U.N. officials said new HIV cases are dropping dramatically worldwide. A study showed that a daily pill already on pharmacy shelves could help prevent new infections in gay men. And the pope opened the way for the use of condoms to prevent AIDS" (Marchione, 11/23).

25 Nov 2010

FTC/TDF tablet reduces HIV infection among high-risk individuals: iPrEx study

In a finding with the potential to fundamentally change strategies to slow the global HIV epidemic, a new study called iPrEx shows that individuals at high risk for HIV infection who took a single daily tablet containing two widely used HIV medications, emtricitabine and tenofovir (FTC/TDF), experienced an average of 43.8% fewer HIV infections than those who received a placebo pill. New England Journal of Medicine, is the first evidence that this new HIV prevention method, called pre-exposure prophylaxis or PrEP, reduces HIV infection risk in people.

24 Nov 2010

GCM supports iPrEx Study to prevent HIV infection among MSM

The Global Campaign for Microbicides (GCM) welcomes today's news from the Division of AIDS (DAIDS) of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Gladstone Institutes of the University of California, San Francisco that daily use of oral emtricitabine (FTC) with tenofovir (TDF) in one tablet shows promise to safely and effectively help to prevent HIV infection among men who have sex with men (MSM).

24 Nov 2010

Important queries about PrEP, iPrEx trial for HIV infection

The results of the iPrEx PrEP effectiveness trial of once-daily TDF/FTC (brand name Truvada) in gay men, transgender women and other men who have sex with men are a landmark in HIV prevention research.

24 Nov 2010

UNAIDS 2010 report documents significant progress in reducing pediatric HIV infection

The just-released UNAIDS 2010 report on the global AIDS epidemic reflects that there is increased momentum to eliminate pediatric HIV and AIDS worldwide, and documents significant progress in increasing access to services to prevent mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV, reducing new infections in children, and providing treatment for children, mothers, and families living with the virus.

24 Nov 2010

iPrEx study: PrEP reduces HIV infection risk among gay, bisexual men

A daily dose of an oral antiretroviral drug, currently approved to treat HIV infection, reduced the risk of acquiring HIV infection by 43.8 percent among men who have sex with men.

24 Nov 2010

iPrEx trial shows reduction in new HIV infections

Results of the world's first efficacy trial of an HIV-prevention approach called oral pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, were released online in the New England Journal of Medicine today.

24 Nov 2010

iPrEx oral PrEP study achieves major milestone in HIV prevention research

This is a great day in the fight against AIDS. The positive results of the iPrEx oral PrEP study are a major milestone in HIV prevention research and provide important information about how antiretroviral drugs might be used for prevention by HIV-negative people at high risk for HIV infection, said AVAC Executive Director Mitchell Warren.

24 Nov 2010

Daily oral antiretroviral reduces HIV infection risk in MSM by 44%, study finds

A study that included nearly 2,500 HIV-negative men and transgender women who have sex with men has shown that a daily dose of Truvada, a pill containing the AIDS drugs emtricitabine and tenofovir, "can reduce risk of contracting [HIV] by an average of 44% - and by more than 70% if the subjects" follow the regimen closely, Los Angeles Times reports (Maugh, 11/23).

24 Nov 2010

CONRAD congratulates Global iPrEx study team for HIV prevention trial

CONRAD is pleased to join in congratulating the Global iPrEx study team for their successful trial of oral tenofovir (TDF) with emtricitabine (FTC) for HIV prevention.

24 Nov 2010

Gilead submits Truvada/TMC278 single-tablet regimen NDA to FDA

Gilead Sciences, Inc. today announced that it has submitted a New Drug Application (NDA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for marketing approval of the single-tablet regimen of Truvada® (emtricitabine and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate) and Tibotec Pharmaceuticals' investigational non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor TMC278 (rilpivirine hydrochloride) for HIV-1 infection in adults. If approved, this would be the second product that contains a complete HIV treatment regimen in a single once-daily tablet.

23 Nov 2010

Researchers highlight importance of motivating people to seek HIV testing

HIV infected patients whose treatment is delayed not only become sicker than those treated earlier, but also require tens of thousands of dollars more in care over the first several years of their treatment.

23 Nov 2010

Despite progress in testing Americans for HIV, lack of federal/private insurance impedes expansion

With projections that human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection rates are increasing in some populations, former Surgeon General Dr. C. Everett Koop -- who charted the nation's policies on HIV/AIDS following the first deaths from AIDS in 1981 -- today issued a stern warning to the public health community: HIV/AIDS continues to be a major epidemic and requires a national mobilization to identify and provide immediate care for many Americans with HIV who remain undiagnosed -- an estimated 200,000 people.

18 Nov 2010

Study investigates long-term outcome of REYATAZ/ritonavir regimens in ARV-experienced patients

Results from a European Observational Study, which included 1,294 antiretroviral (ARV)-experienced patients presented today at the Tenth International Congress on Drug Therapy in HIV Infection (HIV10), demonstrated a low rate of discontinuation and sustained virologic suppression with REYATAZ- (atazanavir)/ritonavir-based regimens over a follow-up period of up to five years.

11 Nov 2010

New study sheds light on Immune Reconstitution Inflammatory Syndrome

Newly published research by scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, sheds light on a poorly understood, acute illness called Immune Reconstitution Inflammatory Syndrome (IRIS) that develops in some HIV-infected individuals soon after they begin antiretroviral therapy.

11 Nov 2010

Guardian examines former Pres. Bush's reflection on PEPFAR in new memoir

The Guardian examines the reflections of former President George W. Bush on the $15bn President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR) which distributed antiretroviral drugs to keep people with HIV alive, as the president describes in his recently released memoir, Decision Points.

11 Nov 2010

Researchers find text messages to HIV patients improve adherence, health outcomes in Kenya trial

Using mobile-phone text messages to remind HIV patients to take their dose of life-saving medications can give a major boost to drug adherence, according to an innovative trial in Kenya unveiled on Tuesday, Agence France-Presse reports.

10 Nov 2010