HIV drugs News and Research

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HIV drug resistance: an interview with Dr. Silvia Bertagnolio

Sexual intercourse is the major mode of HIV transmission. HIV may also be transmitted through sharing of needles or contaminated blood products (although this is rare).

27 Jul 2012

Cost of HIV drugs cost less than previous thought, Clinton Foundation study says

"Lack of money can no longer be considered a reason -- or an excuse -- for failing to treat all those with HIV who need drugs to stay alive, following game-changing work about to be published by the Clinton Foundation that shows the real cost is four times less than previously thought," the Guardian reports.

24 Jul 2012

UNAIDS releases report highlighting gains, gaps in global HIV/AIDS response

Ahead of the XIX International AIDS Conference next week, UNAIDS on Wednesday launched a new report, titled "Together we will end AIDS", "that shows that a record eight million people are now receiving antiretroviral therapy [ARVs], and that domestic funding for HIV has exceeded global investments," the U.N. News Centre reports.

20 Jul 2012

Clinical trial to evaluate maraviroc-based PrEP regimens for HIV prevention

Scientists are launching the first clinical trial to test whether drug regimens containing maraviroc, a medication currently approved to treat HIV infection, are also safe and tolerable when taken once daily by HIV-uninfected individuals at increased risk for acquiring HIV infection. The eventual goal is to see if the drug regimens can reduce the risk of infection.

19 Jul 2012

Researchers identify new behavior for the human macrophage

Researchers at the Institute of Human Virology of the University of Maryland School of Medicine have identified a new behavior for the human macrophage that provides new explanations for several features of HIV biology, including how the virus persists within the body indefinitely, how quiescently infected CD4+ T-cells arise, and how the infection leads to depletion of CD4+ T-cells.

19 Jul 2012

HIV and AIDS treatment: An interview with Charles Flexner, MD

The best estimates at the moment reckon that there are about 25 million people infected with HIV. Most of those are in resource-limited settings, including sub-Saharan Africa, South East Asia and India.

11 Jul 2012

Research roundup: Crowded emergency departments, expensive HIV drugs, high deductible insurance plans

Skin In The Game: How Consumer-Directed Plans Affect The Cost And Use Of Health Care -- Consumer-directed health plans, which feature lower premiums and higher deductibles than traditional plans, are designed to reduce costs by discouraging unnecessary care. This brief describes a study of more than 800,000 households that switched from a traditional employer-based plan to a consumer-based plan.

7 Jul 2012

NPR's 'All Things Considered' examines progress in treating AIDS in developing countries

NPR's "All Things Considered" examines HIV/AIDS treatment progress in developing countries, where the high cost of the "triple-drug regimens that were routinely saving the lives of patients in wealthier countries," and logistical issues, such as ensuring patients would take their medication on time, led some experts to say HIV treatment was "impossible" in the earlier years of the epidemic.

6 Jul 2012

AIDS battle: stretching use of anti-HIV drugs

A Johns Hopkins expert in the drug treatment of HIV disease and AIDS is spearheading an international effort to radically shift the manufacturing and prescribing of combination therapies widely credited in the last decade for keeping the disease in check for 8 million of the 34 million infected people worldwide.

5 Jul 2012

State roundup: Retiree health costs soaring; Calif.'s duplicate surgical payments; Georgia's AIDS drug waiting list shrinks

Recession-plagued states diverted scarce money away from pensions to pay for more immediate concerns, leaving a $757 billion hole in the retirement funds covering millions of public employees, according to a study released Monday. … States also faced a $627 billion shortfall in health care services for retirees. Essentially, for every $1 they'll eventually have to pay out in health care, states had set aside only 5 cents.

20 Jun 2012

New chemical-screening method can discover compounds against HIV

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have used a powerful new chemical-screening method to find compounds that inhibit the activity of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that causes AIDS.

14 Jun 2012

UNAIDS Executive Director calls on African leaders to reduce 'triple dependency' on external sources of HIV drugs, commodities, technologies

"Delivering a speech at Wednesday's opening session of the 16th Conference of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA), UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe congratulated leaders across the region for their personal commitment to the HIV response, specifically with regard to upholding human rights and protecting human capital," UNAIDS reports in an article on its website.

8 Jun 2012

CCR5 antagonists may also help prevent aggressive breast cancers from metastasizing

The HIV drugs known as CCR5 antagonists may also help prevent aggressive breast cancers from metastasizing, researchers from the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson suggest in a preclinical study published in a recent issue of Cancer Research.

7 Jun 2012

HIV markets in rich, poor countries are two distinct markets

HIV drugs have not only "transformed a fatal disease into a chronic one," but "[t]hey have also made HIV a big business," this Economist editorial states.

2 Jun 2012

IAS’ XIX International AIDS Conference to take place in Washington D.C.

This summer, more than 25,000 leading scientists, public health experts, policy-makers, community members, and experts in the HIV/AIDS field from around the world will gather in our nation's capital for the International AIDS Society's XIX International AIDS Conference.

19 May 2012

Truvada deemed safe & effective in HIV infection risk reduction

Gilead Sciences Inc's Truvada pills are deemed safe and effective for reducing the risk of HIV infection, U.S. regulators said on Tuesday. But they recommended a cautious approach for using the drug in efforts to prevent the virus that causes AIDS.

9 May 2012

NIH study indicates safety of anti-HIV drug tenofovir during pregnancy

Infants born to women who used the anti-HIV drug tenofovir as part of an anti-HIV drug regimen during pregnancy do not weigh less at birth and are not of shorter length than infants born to women who used anti-HIV drug regimens that do not include tenofovir during pregnancy, according to findings from a National Institutes of Health network study.

2 May 2012

Kenyan government must review law on counterfeit drugs, High Court rules

"Kenya's High Court ruled on Friday that lawmakers must review legislation that could threaten the import of generic drugs, allowing Kenyans to continue accessing affordable medicine," Reuters reports.

23 Apr 2012

HAART does not completely suppress HIV in sexually active MSM

Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and Fenway Health have found that highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) does not completely suppress HIV in the semen of sexually active HIV-infected men who have sex with men.

28 Mar 2012

ARV given to HIV-positive children boosts preventive power of key malaria drug, study shows

An antiretroviral (ARV) drug given to HIV-positive children "can boost the preventive power of a key malaria drug," according to a study conducted in Uganda and presented last week at the 19th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, ScienceNow reports.

16 Mar 2012