HIV drugs News and Research

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Scientists reveal long-standing mystery about HIV infection

Scientists at Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology have solved a long-standing mystery about HIV infection-namely how HIV promotes the death of CD4 T cells.

25 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

UNAIDS report finds new HIV infections dropped by 20% over 10 years, deaths from AIDS-related illness dropped by 20% over 5 years

The number of new HIV infections has dropped by about one-fifth over the past decade but millions of people are still missing out on major progress in prevention and treatment, according to the annual UNAIDS report released Tuesday, Agence France-Presse reports.

23 Nov 2010

HIV drugs lead to insulin resistance

The same powerful drugs that have extended the lives of countless people with HIV come with a price - insulin resistance that can lead to diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

23 Nov 2010

New i-phone application provides instant access to HIV drug interactions

The University of Liverpool has launched an i-phone application, HIV iChart,that provides healthcare professionals and HIV patients with instant and easy access to information about drug interactions.

16 Nov 2010

Health IT reshaped veterans health; What will it do for 'mobile telephony'?

Health IT reshaped the United States system for caring for veterans, The Toronto Globe and Mail reports. "Ken Kizer is the miracle man of U.S. health care. Mr. Kizer brought in bold reform that transformed the vast and woeful Veterans Health Administration into an efficient, effective model institution with sky-high patient satisfaction. Starting in 1994, it took him five years to reduce costs and increase quality of care, while nearly doubling the number of patients."

15 Nov 2010

Contraceptive, antiviral gel using bee venom wins 2010 Gates Foundation grant

A vaginal gel that affords both contraception and HIV protection using nanoparticles that carry bee venom is one of the bold, unconventional ideas that won a 2010 Grand Challenges Explorations grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

10 Nov 2010

Scientists identify genes that enable some immune systems to halt HIV; finding could spur drug, vaccine development

Tiny variants in a protein that alerts the body to infection could explain how one in 300 HIV-infected people are able to resist the onset of AIDS for years without needing any treatment, researchers said Thursday in a study published online in the journal Science, Agence France-Presse reports

8 Nov 2010

RDI launches HIV-TRePS system to predict patients’ response to HIV drugs

A ground-breaking system for predicting how individual patients with HIV and AIDS will respond to different drugs is launched today by RDI, a UK-based not-for-profit research group. The experimental system, called the HIV Treatment Response Prediction System (HIV-TRePS), is available free of charge over the Internet and helps physicians select the best treatment for their patients.

6 Oct 2010

NIH announces it will share IP rights to some AIDS drugs in UNITAID Patent Pool

The NIH announced Thursday it will share intellectual property rights on some AIDS drugs in a patent pool designed to make treatments more widely available to the poor, Reuters reports.

4 Oct 2010

U.N. agencies' report examines global progress in fight against HIV/AIDS

"A record 1.2 million people in low- and middle-income countries started antiretroviral therapy for HIV/AIDS in 2009" - a 30 percent increase from the previous year and a 13-fold increase in six years, according to a joint report released Tuesday by the WHO, UNICEF and UNAIDS, Reuters reports. In total, the report found that 5.25 million people received antiretroviral therapy (ART) in 2009, three-quarters of them living in Africa (Migiro, 9/28).

30 Sep 2010

HIV AIDS drugs’ universal access dream remains improbable: Report

In a disappointing new report jointly commissioned by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the UN's AIDS programme and UNICEF it was revealed that only one third of people worldwide who need life-saving HIV drugs are actually getting treated. Universal access to these medicines has been the theme of effort but it was seen that that targets would not be met. The report urges the poorer countries must “substantially ramp up” the funds for HIV/AIDS.

29 Sep 2010

Significant progress made universally in increasing access to HIV/AIDS services: Report

Significant progress has been made in several low- and middle-income countries in increasing access to HIV/AIDS services, according to a new report released today. The report Towards universal access by WHO, the United Nations Children's Fund and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS is the fourth annual report for tracking progress made in achieving the 2010 target of providing universal access to HIV prevention, treatment and care.

29 Sep 2010

International activists ask: 'Will MDG summit fail HIV-positive people?'

A group of Russian AIDS activists are charging that the Russian Ministry of Health is denying that there are drug stock-outs that prevent patients from starting or continuing treatment. "In this situation, people with HIV face a choice: to die quietly at home or try to attract the attention of the government and the media," said Alexey Yaskovich, a Russian activist from Novgorod. "Therefore, activists will continue to go to the streets of Moscow and hold public events dedicated to saving their lives."

21 Sep 2010

K.U.Leuven enters license agreement with Pfizer to commercialize anti-HIV drugs

K.U.Leuven announced today that on July 29th, 2010 they entered into a license agreement with Pfizer. The license agreement grants Pfizer exclusive and sublicenseable worldwide rights to further develop and commercialise K.U.Leuven's compounds with a new mechanism of action for the potential treatment of individuals infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

16 Sep 2010

Brain can act as a hiding place for HIV virus: Study

Studies of the spinal fluid of patients given anti-HIV drugs have resulted in new findings suggesting that the brain can act as a hiding place for the HIV virus. Around 10% of patients showed traces of the virus in their spinal fluid but not in their blood.

23 Aug 2010

Combination of 2 FDA approved drugs eliminate HIV infection

Researchers at the University of Minnesota Academic Health Center have identified two drugs that, when combined, may serve as an effective treatment for HIV.

21 Aug 2010

Bloomberg Businessweek explores growing trend in pharma to license, donate HIV drugs

"Pharmaceutical companies, once blasted as uncaring or downright greedy for charging thousands of dollars for a year's worth of AIDS medicines … in poor countries, lately have been slashing prices and licensing their drugs for free or nominal cost to nonprofits or local manufacturers in the developing world," Bloomberg BusinessWeek writes in an analysis piece that examines how this trend, combined with a growing capability among aid agencies to distribute drugs, has the potential to increase access to HIV/AIDS drugs worldwide.

7 Aug 2010

Kaiser Family Foundation/CSIS forum reviews AIDS 2010, looks ahead to AIDS 2012

Last month's 18th International AIDS Conference-AIDS 2010 in Vienna, Austria, will be remembered as the first since the global economic downturn, the growing recognition of treatment as part of prevention and a focus on the importance of human rights, HIV/AIDS experts said Thursday during a panel discussion in Washington, D.C. A webcast of the event is available online.

6 Aug 2010