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Coformulation of rilpivirine and Truvada HIV drugs will achieve sales of more than $2 billion in 2018

Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms for pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that, in 2018, the fixed dose coformulation of Tibotec's rilpivirine and Gilead's Truvada will achieve blockbuster sales of more than $2 billion in the HIV drug market in the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and Japan.

5 Jan 2010

AP series examines worldwide impact of drug resistance

The Associated Press reports on how the misuse of drugs worldwide has contributed to drug-resistant diseases in a series of articles following a six-month investigation by the news service.

5 Jan 2010

U.S. health officials announce shift in focus of prep trial in Botswana

U.S. health officials on Thursday announced they will shift the focus of a clinical trial in Botswana aimed at testing pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) - the strategy that "a daily low dose of the drugs, which interfere with the ability of the virus to replicate, could also lower the risk of infection" - after researchers discovered they would be unable to determine the efficacy of Truvada, the medicine used in the trial, Reuters reports.

18 Dec 2009

Computer search algorithms identify FDA-approved drugs that could be the basis for new medicines

A massive, data-crunching computer search program that matches fragments of potential drug molecules to the known shapes of viral surface proteins has identified several FDA-approved drugs that could be the basis for new medicines -- if emerging viruses such as the H5N1(avian flu) or H1N1/09 (swine flu) develop resistance to current antiviral therapies -- according to a presentation at the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) 49th Annual Meeting, Dec. 5-9, 2009 in San Diego.

7 Dec 2009

Despite gains, HIV/AIDS remains public-health priority, UNAIDS, WHO say

"The U.N. report said 'AIDS continues to be a major public-health priority' and called for more funds to support efforts to curb the epidemic and to distribute lifesaving drugs," the Wall Street Journal reports.

25 Nov 2009

CD4 Initiative selects Zyomyx's CD4 POC technology as best for measuring CD4 T-cell count in HIV/AIDS patients

Zyomyx, Inc., a leader in chip-based bioanalysis technologies, today announced that its readerless CD4 point-of-care (POC) technology was selected by Imperial College London's CD4 Initiative as the best-performing POC test method for measuring CD4 T-cell count in HIV/AIDS patients. Zyomyx's CD4 assay is now the only remaining POC product being supported by the CD4 Initiative.

17 Nov 2009

Boehringer Ingelheim continues providing non assert declarations to manufacture HIV/AIDS medicines

Boehringer Ingelheim continues to be willing to provide WHO qualified generic pharmaceutical companies non assert declarations to manufacturer and export products containing the HIV/AIDS medication nevirapine to Rwanda and other defined developing countries.

20 Oct 2009

Viriom picks ChemDiv's Russian subsidiary for development of innovative HIV compounds

ChemDiv, Inc. of San Diego has proudly announced that its wholly owned subsidiary Chemical Diversity Research Institute (CDRI ) of Moscow, Russia, has been chosen by Viriom Ltd. ( Viriom) of Moscow, Russia as a service partner in developing innovative HIV compounds. The program includes pre-clinical and clinical studies, which are expected to begin in 2010.

19 Oct 2009

MSF calls on drug companies to pool HIV patents

Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) recently launched an e-mail campaign calling on nine of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies to "release their patents on specific HIV drugs into a collective pool that will increase access and affordability to treatment in developing countries," Inter Press Service reports (Borde, 10/1).

5 Oct 2009

Avexa's ATC Phase III study concludes

Avexa Limited today announced that the apricitabine (ATC) Phase III study will be closed and the data will be subsequently unblinded and analyzed. After extensive interaction with the regulatory authorities and potential partners, the decision was made to evaluate the 24 week data with the results due in the first quarter of 2010.

3 Oct 2009

Phase II VICTOR-E1 clinical study results reported

Schering-Plough Corporation today reported long-term data with vicriviroc, its investigational CCR5 receptor antagonist, from an ongoing, open-label extension of the Phase II VICTOR-E1 study in treatment-experienced HIV-infected patients.

15 Sep 2009

Chemical components of elderberry, cinnamon and green tea extracts block HIV viruses from infecting cells

The development of new antiviral drugs has had a tremendous impact on the quality of life and life expectancy of HIV-positive and AIDS patients, as the drugs effectively disrupt the replication cycle of the HIV virus. Yet the regular use of those drugs - such as zidovudine (also known as azidothymidine or AZT), protease inhibitors, and highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) involving multidrug therapies - has led to resistant HIV strains.

20 Aug 2009

Retrovirox receives another NIH grant for novel inhibitors of HIV entry

RetroVirox, Inc., a biotechnology company specializing in the development of novel antivirals, announced today that it has received a grant award of $296,875 from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID), of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This is the second award to RetroVirox from the NIH in less than six months. In March 2009 the company received its first grant to develop novel inhibitors of HIV entry.

12 Aug 2009

Clinton Foundation reaches deal with Matrix, Pfizer to cut prices for second-line Arvs, TB drug

Former President Bill Clinton on Thursday announced deals with drugmakers Matrix Laboratories and Pfizer to lower the cost of medications to treat patients with drug-resistant forms of HIV/AIDS in the developing world, Reuters reports (Honan, 8/6).

7 Aug 2009

GlaxoSmithKline pledges $97 million investment in AIDS drugs for Africa, allows South African drugmaker to produce generic second-line treatment

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) on Tuesday announced plans to invest $97 million over 10 years "to improve research, development and access to AIDS drugs in Africa," Reuters reports.

15 Jul 2009

Schering-Plough expands Vicriviroc study in treatment-naive patients with HIV

Schering-Plough Corporation has announced that it has extended to stage two an ongoing Phase II clinical study with vicriviroc, its investigational CCR5 antagonist, for use in first-line therapy of adult treatment-naive HIV-infected patients with R5-type virus only. In this study, vicriviroc is being evaluated in a novel nucleoside-sparing regimen that is designed to provide additional options for treatment-naive patients in a once daily regimen, while preserving other drug classes for subsequent lines of treatment.

15 Jul 2009

Antiretroviral therapy earlier yields better clinical outcomes

A clinical trial has demonstrated that HIV-infected adults in a resource-limited setting are more likely to survive if they start antiretroviral therapy (ART) before their immune systems are severely compromised.

9 Jun 2009

New cellular targets for HIV drug development

Focusing HIV drug development on immune cells called macrophages instead of traditionally targeted T cells could bring us closer to eradicating the disease, according to new research from University of Florida and five other institutions.

27 May 2009

Early retroviral use best for AIDS patients with serious complications

HIV-positive patients who don't seek medical attention until they have a serious AIDS-related condition can reduce their risk of death or other complications by half if they get antiretroviral treatment early on, according to a new multicenter trial led by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

17 May 2009

Early use of antiretroviral treatment improves survival rate of HIV patients

A clinical study, led by researchers from University College Dublin, Ireland, and Stanford University, California, USA, with international collaborators, demonstrates that mortality rates of HIV patients can be almost halved when early antiretroviral (ARV) therapy is added to the treatment of AIDS-related opportunistic infections (OIs) such as pneumonia, meningitis or other serious bacterial infections.