Antiretroviral News and Research

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PrEP strategy could dramatically slow the spread of HIV

Giving a daily antiretroviral pill to people to prevent HIV could profoundly slow the spread of the infection in sub-Saharan Africa, where it is a full-blown epidemic, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researchers report.

20 Sep 2007

Pregnancy may slow AIDS progression

A new study may help put to rest fears that pregnancy accelerates progression to full-blown AIDS in women with HIV receiving antiretroviral therapy.

20 Sep 2007

Organ transplantation for HIV-positive patients

Not long ago, organ transplantation was not considered an option for HIV infected patients.

17 Sep 2007

California passes historic HIV testing bill

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the operator of the largest non-government HIV testing program in California, today praised the California Legislature for its passage of Assembly Bill 682, California's Routine HIV Screening Bill, which cleared the Assembly on final concurrence (64-0) today after clearing the Senate in a 38 to 1 vote late last week.

11 Sep 2007

Merck/Gilead once-a-day AIDS pill not available in most places

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) today called on Gilead Sciences and Merck to immediately register and distribute the three-in-one, once daily lifesaving HIV treatment, Atripla, in developing countries.

10 Sep 2007

Quarter of HIV patients believe their doctors stigmatize them

Physicians might want to be extra careful about how they treat HIV-infected patients - not just in the clinical sense but in the way they behave toward them. Even the perception that physicians are stigmatizing patients for carrying the virus that causes AIDS can discourage these individuals from seeking proper medical care, according to a new UCLA study.

3 Sep 2007

Pill box organizers increase HIV patients' adherence and improve viral suppression

Inexpensive pill box organizers are an easy, successful, and cost-effective tool to help patients take their medications as prescribed, according to a new study of low-income urban residents living with HIV infection by authors from the Berkeley School of Public Health and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).

30 Aug 2007

HIV protein both causes brain injury and prevents its repair

New evidence reported in the August issue of Cell Stem Cell, a publication of Cell Press, offers a novel perspective on how the HIV/AIDS virus leads to learning and memory deficits, a condition known as HIV-associated dementia.

17 Aug 2007

FDA approves maraviroc, an antiretroviral drug for use in adult HIV patients.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved maraviroc, an antiretroviral drug for use in adult HIV patients. Maraviroc, sold under the trade name Selzentry, is the first in a new class of drugs designed to slow the advancement of HIV and received priority review by the FDA.

7 Aug 2007

Long-term herpes treatment may reduce HIV infectivity

Long-term anti-herpes treatment of women infected with both HIV and HSV2, the virus that causes genital herpes, may reduce the proportion of women with detectable HIV virus in their genital secretions according to the results of a trial in Tanzania presented the International AIDS Society Conference in Sydney.

26 Jul 2007

Children with HIV early antiretroviral therapy study

Hundreds of thousands of babies around the world are born each year with HIV--more than half a million in 2006 alone.

26 Jul 2007

New studies emphasize need for influenza and measles vaccinations in HIV-infected patients

Two new studies emphasize the importance of delivering measles and influenza vaccines to HIV-infected individuals.

24 Jul 2007

Urgent needs of HIV-positive women discussed

Women Living Positive, a roundtable discussion at the IAS congress in Sydney, featured the perspectives of an international panel, including experts in HIV research and medicine, an HIV-positive woman and a member of Australia's National Association of People Living with HIV/AIDS (NAPWA), on the progress that has been made, and what remains to be done to address the needs of HIV-positive women.

23 Jul 2007

Patients' perspectives on living with HIV

Recent launches of new protease inhibitors and the anticipated availability of new antiretroviral drug classes have increased the therapeutic options available to treatment-experienced HIV-positive patients, and made achieving an undetectable viral load a realistic goal for this patient population.

23 Jul 2007

Long term antiretroviral therapy may restore CD4 cell counts in HIV positive patients

HIV positive patients who take combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) to combat HIV infection could see the numbers of CD4 cells in their immune system rise to concentrations found in HIV negative individuals, if they remain on the therapy for long enough and their HIV viral load load is suppressed to below 50 copies per ml.

20 Jul 2007

Three gene variants discovered that help fight HIV

An international team of researchers has identified three gene variants in the DNA of 486 people infected with HIV that appear to have helped some of the patients fight off the virus and delay the onset of full-blown AIDS.

20 Jul 2007

Tibotec Pharmaceuticals submits NDA for investigational HIV treatment

Tibotec Pharmaceuticals Ltd. has announced the submission of a New Drug Application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for TMC125 (etravirine), an investigational non- nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI), being studied for use with other antiretroviral (ARV) agents as a treatment for people infected with HIV- 1.

19 Jul 2007