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AIDS virus initially more destructive than first thought

The AIDS virus destroys more than half of the immune cells that might recognize and help fight it, within days of infection according to US researchers, and this revelation might necessitate a re-evaluation of how the deadly infection should be tackled.

28 Mar 2005

Vaccine prevents deadly pneumonia in African children

Global health leaders today presented new research showing that vaccinating infants against Streptococcus pneumoniae -- a bacterium that causes deadly pneumonia, meningitis and sepsis -- could substantially reduce death and serious illness among children in the developing world. If used widely, a pneumococcal conjugate vaccine could prevent hundreds of thousands of child deaths each year.

28 Mar 2005

New therapy for treating cat allergies looks promising

Andrew Saxon, M.D., and a team of researchers at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have found that a molecule designed to block cat allergies can prevent allergic reactions in laboratory mice and was also successful when tested on human cells in a test tube.

28 Mar 2005

Rejected asylum seekers and illegal immigrants should get HIV treatment free on the National Health Service

MPs on the Commons health select committee say, in a strongly worded report, that rejected asylum seekers and illegal immigrants should get HIV treatment free on the National Health Service (NHS) like everybody else, to avoid the risk of a further spread of Aids; they say the government's withdrawal of free treatment from these groups as a measure against "health tourism" was ill-advised.

23 Mar 2005

India passes the drug Patent Bill

India's parliament passed a new law Wednesday, the Patent (Amendment) Bill, prohibiting the copying of patented drugs, despite strong criticism that the legislation would prohibit the manufacture of low-cost generic drugs.

23 Mar 2005

Ranbaxy files additional Anti-Retroviral (ARV) agents with the World Health Organization

Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited (RLL) announced today that the Company has made two additional filings of its Anti-Retroviral (ARV) agents with the World Health Organization (WHO) for its approval, taking the total number of Ranbaxy ARV filings submitted with the WHO to five.

23 Mar 2005

Study suggests combination therapy could stop spread, halt growth of melanomas

Researchers at Penn State College of Medicine have identified the mechanism by which the most mutated gene in melanoma, called v599EB-Raf, aids melanoma tumor development demonstrating its importance as a therapeutic target.

22 Mar 2005

Indian production of cheap generic drugs could be banned

To ensure India meets World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules on the production of drugs, the Indian Parliament has approved legislation by the parliament's lower house, to ban domestic firms from manufacturing low-cost generic copies of patented drugs.

22 Mar 2005

Women who are HIV-positive or are abused are more likely to think about or attempt suicide

The Hopkins study, consistent with previous research, sheds new light on the extent to which being in an abusive relationship compounds suicide risk for HIV-positive women in particular. This latest study is published in the March/April 2005 issue of Women’s Health Issues

22 Mar 2005

Depression appears to be a major cause of insomnia in people with HIV

Patients in the last stages of HIV infection with full-blown AIDS and those who have suffered some kind of brain impairment as a result of the disease are also more likely to suffer from insomnia, the reviewers conclude in the current issue of Psychosomatic Medicine.

22 Mar 2005

New findings about the spread of HIV in the UK

Contrary to the prevailing belief that the HIV epidemic in the UK can be traced back to one source, a new study by Oxford and London scientists suggests that HIV spread via at least six independent virus introductions and subsequent transmission chains.

21 Mar 2005

African genome research given impetus

Millions of victims in Africa, die each year from preventable diseases like tuberculosis and malaria and researchers say only a relatively small proportion of money is spent on developing vaccines, much more is spent on drugs aimed at tackling diseases more prevalent among rich, Western consumers.

21 Mar 2005