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Thailand the latest drug patent buster

Thailand's military government has used World Trade Organization (WTO) rules regarding intellectual property, to allow the sale of generic versions of two important drugs used to treat HIV/AIDS and heart disease.

29 Jan 2007

Probing proteins can lead to better understanding of anti-tumor agents

There are a number of naturally occurring chemicals that are used in phototherapy of skin diseases. Hypocrellin A (HA), which can be extracted from a parasitic fungus, has been taken orally as a folk medicine for several centuries in China.

29 Jan 2007

Number of Parkinson's sufferers will double in next 25 years

The study highlights the significant challenge facing countries with rapidly growing economies, particularly in Asia, many of which are ill prepared to meet this impending public health threat.

29 Jan 2007

Public standards for world medications to treat neglected infectious diseases

The United States Pharmacopeia (USP) has released free documentary standards for medicines used outside the United States to treat neglected infectious diseases.

29 Jan 2007

AIDS Healthcare Foundation praises Thai action on AIDS drug licensing

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the US' largest HIV/AIDS healthcare and prevention and education provider, which operates free AIDS treatment clinics in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean and Asia, praised the Government of Thailand for its plan to break the patents on some lifesaving drugs, including one for an anti- retroviral drug used in the treatment of HIV/AIDS.

29 Jan 2007

China should own up to past HIV/AIDS mistakes

Although China in recent years "has made bold strides in its response to HIV/AIDS," the number of new HIV/AIDS cases will continue to increase unless the country "owns up to past mistakes, encourages and supports civil society involvement, and proactively deals with the serious challenges of stigma and misinformation".

29 Jan 2007

HIV/AIDS advocates call on Zimbabwe to address broad health care issues

Although some HIV/AIDS advocates in Zimbabwe are welcoming a recent pledge from the Zimbabwean government to provide increased access to antiretroviral drugs by the end of this year, they also are stressing the need to address a broader crisis in the country's health care system, VOA News reports.

29 Jan 2007

Poverty, gender inequality contributing to spread of HIV in Caribbean

Poverty, gender inequality and discrimination are hampering efforts to curb the spread of HIV in the Caribbean, speakers at the Caribbean Summit on HIV/AIDS in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, said on Sunday, the Caribbean Net News reports.

28 Jan 2007

Guyanese Health Ministry to provide $450,000 for HIV/AIDS programs

The Guyanese Ministry of Health on Tuesday announced it will provide $450,000 to 16 nongovernmental organizations to conduct HIV/AIDS programs nationwide, the Stabroek News reports.

28 Jan 2007

HIV prevention and education initiatives are not reaching girls in Africa

According to Bruce, young African girls often have low school attendance and few friends, making them hard to reach. Impoverished girls are more likely to engage in commercial sex work, which increases their risk of contracting HIV, Bruce said.

28 Jan 2007

Violence against women fueling spread of HIV worldwide

Violence against women worldwide is fueling the spread of HIV in the population, and unwillingness among some governments to acknowledge the issue will continue to undermine prevention and education efforts, advocates said this week at the World Social Forum in Nairobi, Kenya, Inter Press Service reports.

28 Jan 2007

Advocates should focus on long-term strategy to fight HIV/AIDS

HIV/AIDS advocates should focus on developing a long-term strategy for the fight against the pandemic, Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Executive Director Richard Feachem said on Wednesday during a satellite meeting at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Reuters Health reports.

28 Jan 2007

Thailand plans to break antiretroviral patents

Thai Public Health Minister Mongkol Songkhla plans to break patents on an antiretroviral drug and a drug for heart disease by issuing compulsory licenses to produce lower-cost versions, Ministry of Public Health spokesperson Suphan Srithamma announced on Thursday, AFP/Yahoo! News reports.

28 Jan 2007

New program in Vietnam to provide youth with HIV/AIDS education

The Danish International Development Agency in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund and the Voice of Vietnam radio on Wednesday launched a radio program that aims to educate young people in the country about HIV/AIDS, the Vietnam News Brief Service reports.

28 Jan 2007

Homeless youth can be easy to engage and easy to treat

One of the few studies examining methods to help homeless youth found that a comprehensive intervention program can indeed dramatically improve their life situation.

28 Jan 2007

Antiretroviral resistance testing in HIV infected patients improves health and saves costs

In a newly published study Swiss researchers document that antiretroviral resistance testing in HIV infected patients with treatment failure not only leads to better health but also saves costs to society.

25 Jan 2007

FDA urged to review policy that bans MSM from donating blood

The American Red Cross and other organizations that collect donated blood are urging FDA to review a policy in effect since the early 1980s that prohibits men who have sex with men -- regardless of sexual activity, safer-sex practices or HIV status -- from donating blood, the San Jose Mercury News reports.

23 Jan 2007

XDR-TB in South Africa

A team of medical ethics and public health experts say tough isolation measures, involuntary if need be, are justified to contain a deadly, contagious, drug-resistant strain of TB in South Africa and to prevent "a potentially explosive international health crisis."

23 Jan 2007

Health inequalities in Britain

Tackling health inequalities in Britain needs closer co-ordination between all major policy areas including health, education, housing, employment and taxation, according to the authors of a new Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) publication.

23 Jan 2007

Shire licenses the north American rights for Apricitabine to Avexa

Shire plc has announced that it licensed the North America (U.S. and Canada) rights for the investigational HIV compound, SPD754 (also known as apricitabine), to the Australian biotechnology company Avexa Limited in return for an up-front payment of US$10 million, development and sales related milestones and royalties.

22 Jan 2007