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Government leaders make statements in recognition of World AIDS Day

A number of government leaders made statements on Thursday in recognition of World AIDS Day. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a press statement said, "We have come a long way in the fight against AIDS, but there is still a long road ahead to realize our ambitious goals.

3 Dec 2011

End to AIDS in reach, U.N. officials say on World AIDS Day

"As the world heads into the fourth decade of AIDS, it is finally in a position to end the epidemic, [U.N.] Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said [Thursday], leading a chorus of United Nations officials in calling for the political will, investments and determination to reach this goal," the U.N. News Centre reports. "'Momentum is on our side. Let us use it to end AIDS -- once and for all,' Mr. Ban said in his message for World AIDS Day," the news service writes.

3 Dec 2011

Research roundup: Recession's big impact on men's insurance coverage

Researchers examined three sets of surveillance data and found that of the estimated 1.2 million persons in the United States living with the human immunodeficiency virus, 942,000 persons were aware of their infection. More than three-quarters of those were "linked to care" and among HIV-infected adults in care, "45 percent received prevention counseling, and 89 percent were prescribed antiretroviral therapy."

3 Dec 2011

On World AIDS Day, Obama announces plan to redirect $50 million to fight AIDS

President Barack Obama told advocates, patients and other stakeholders that his administration will do more to get antiretroviral drugs to people infected with HIV - in the United States and in low-income countries around the world.

3 Dec 2011

New rapid blood test for early diagnosis of cryptococcosis

Research conducted at University of Nevada, Reno and licensed through the University's Technology Transfer Office is featured in the technology transfer publication "Better World Report" for a remarkable second year in a row.

3 Dec 2011

Political leaders, celebrities come together for World AIDS Day event

"A star-studded array of political and religious leaders -- from President Obama to rock legend Bono to AIDS activist Kay Warren -- came together Thursday for World AIDS Day to call for an entirely AIDS-free generation by 2015," the Washington Post reports.

3 Dec 2011

Obama announces new U.S. commitments to end AIDS domestically, globally

Speaking at the ONE campaign and (RED)'s "Beginning of the End of AIDS" event at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., to mark World AIDS Day on Thursday, "President Obama ... announced a deepened U.S. commitment to fighting the pandemic, declaring 'make no mistake, we are going to win this fight,'" ABC News reports (Bruce, 12/1).

3 Dec 2011

Opinion pieces, editorial recognize World AIDS Day

Rear Admiral Susan Blumenthal and Ashley Grosso, Huffington Post's "Impact": Blumenthal, senior policy and medical adviser at amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, and Grosso, an Allan Rosenfield fellow at amfAR, outline steps they feel necessary to reach the goal of an AIDS-free generation.

3 Dec 2011

Multipronged approach needed to conquer malaria

"A malaria vaccine could be a powerful new tool," but "[c]ontrolling mosquitoes and diagnosing malaria remain essential. Among the highest priorities now is to develop new methods to do both," a Bloomberg editorial states.

3 Dec 2011

South African President introduces National Strategic Plan on HIV, STIs, TB

South African President Jacob Zuma in a speech on Thursday to mark World AIDS Day introduced a new five-year National Strategic Plan on HIV, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and tuberculosis (TB), which "calls for stepped-up prevention efforts to halve new infections of HIV and tuberculosis by 2016 and to put 80 percent of eligible patients on antiretroviral drugs to fight AIDS," Agence France-Presse reports.

3 Dec 2011

Bristol-Myers Squibb and Tibotec partner to evaluate daclatasvir-TMC435 combination for HCV

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company announced today that it has entered into a clinical collaboration agreement with Tibotec Pharmaceuticals to evaluate the utility of daclatasvir (BMS-790052), Bristol-Myers Squibb's investigational NS5A replication complex inhibitor, in combination with Tibotec Pharmaceuticals' investigational NS3 protease inhibitor, TMC435, for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV).

3 Dec 2011

Women for Positive Action comments on research into prevention strategies for sexual transmission of HIV

To mark World AIDS Day (December 1, 2011), Women for Positive Action has released a commentary which discusses recent and ongoing research on prevention strategies for the sexual transmission of HIV. With expert opinion from Teresa Branco, Margaret Johnson, Karine Lacombe, Anne-Mette Lebech, Mona Loutfy, Angelina Namiba, Maria Jesús Pérez Elías and Sharon Walmsley, the article is focused on the potential clinical relevance of these studies.

3 Dec 2011

Baby boomers more likely to develop HCV

Experts at Montefiore Medical Center urge the general public to be tested for the Hepatitis C virus, especially baby boomers, adults born between 1946-1964, who could be most at risk for this disease. Baby boomers are more likely to have been exposed to dangerous risk factors decades ago, such as sharing a drug needle, being tattooed or pierced with unsterilized tools or receiving a tainted blood transfusion.

2 Dec 2011

Bristol-Myers Squibb, Tibotec partner for TMC435 Phase II combination study in HCV

Medivir AB, the research-based speciality pharmaceutical company focused on the development of high-value treatments for infectious diseases, announces that its development partner, Tibotec Pharmaceuticals, has entered into an agreement with Bristol-Myers Squibb Company.

2 Dec 2011

Multimedia resources published in recognition of World AIDS Day

The following is a summary of some of the multimedia resources published in recognition of World AIDS Day, observed on Thursday, December 1.

2 Dec 2011

Opinion pieces address Global Fund's future after cancellation of Round 11 grants

The Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria decided to cancel Round 11 grant approval during a two-day meeting in Accra, Ghana, that concluded on November 22, according to a Global Fund press release (11/23).

2 Dec 2011

Mylan's NDA for Atazanavir Sulfate and Ritonavir Tablets receives tentative FDA approval through PEPFAR

Mylan Inc. today announced that its subsidiary Mylan Laboratories Limited has received tentative approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration through the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) for its New Drug Application for Atazanavir Sulfate and Ritonavir Tablets, 300 mg/100 mg.

2 Dec 2011

Financial Times, IPS report on male circumcision as HIV prevention strategy

Male circumcision is "a practice that -- despite the evidence -- has yet to be adopted as much or as fast as experts had hoped," the Financial Times reports.

2 Dec 2011

U.S. global AIDS funding faces up to 10% cuts in fiscal 2012

As we approach World AIDS Day, life-saving funding is under attack from multiple fronts, and it couldn't come at a worse time. One of the world's biggest donors, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria canceled its next round of funding, because it couldn't secure enough donations.

2 Dec 2011

Only 21% of medical students could identify correct hand hygiene indications

Only 21 percent of surveyed medical students could identify five true and two false indications of when and when not to wash their hands in the clinical setting, according to a study published in the December issue of the American Journal of Infection Control, the official publication of APIC - the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology.

2 Dec 2011