Washington Blade - August 2, 2002

PITTSBURGH -- A new study suggests that physicians could be making a lethal mistake if they fail to give the same credibility and treatment to depressed patients with HIV that they give to nondepressed patients with the disease. In a study published in the July 2002 issue of the Journal of General & Internal Medicine, a research team found that those HIV patients who experience more symptoms, regardless of how depressed they may or may not be, are the ones more likely to die within the coming year. Physicians who may be tempted to dismiss symptoms reported by a patient with HIV who is depressed are missing the bigger picture, according to the study. Lead author Amy M. Kilbourne, a researcher with the Veterans Administration Pittsburgh Center for Health Equity Research & Promotion, and her colleagues used data from a study of HIV patients treated at Veterans Administration medical centers in Cleveland, Houston and Manhattan between June 1999 and July 2000. The authors found that those patients who had begun the study with the highest number of HIV symptoms were more likely to be among the participants who died at the one-year mark. Kilbourne warned against treating the medical symptoms of HIV any differently in patients who are and are not depressed.

Drug company says it will freeze price of HIV meds in U.S.

NEW YORK -- GlaxoSmithKline has announced that it will implement a two-year freeze in the U.S. on the list price of the company's entire portfolio of anti-HIV products through January 2004, AIDS Weekly reported Monday. The company said the decision was a way to help address some of the needs of the financially embattled AIDS Drug Assistance Programs, which are experiencing shortfalls in funding. "As leaders in HIV/AIDS treatments, we share a responsibility to step into the breach and help patients access adequate HIV/AIDS therapy in the U.S., just as we are doing in the developing world," said Peter Hare, GSK vice president for HIV. The company also emphasized the need to implement a sustainable, long-term solution to state ADAP funding pressures.

San Fran voters to get ballot measure on medical marijuana

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Frustrated by the federal government's determination to shut down medical marijuana clubs, San Francisco officials are thinking about growing their own. The city Board of Supervisors voted July 22 to put a measure on the November ballot that would have city officials explore growing marijuana on publicly owned lots and distributing it to ill patients. "The health department or some other entity would distribute it over their own counter,'' said gay Supervisor Mark Leno, who proposed the idea with three colleagues. San Francisco District Attorney Terence Hallinan was unavailable for comment, but has been outspoken in his support of medical marijuana clubs. "The real fight we've been having is distribution,'' said Wayne Justmann, who has been HIV positive for more than 15 years. He operates one of San Francisco's 11 remaining pot clubs.

Fla. man infected with HIV says he will sue over bad blood

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) -- A man infected by HIV after receiving a tainted transfusion has notified Florida Blood Services of his plans to sue, the St. Petersburg Times reported. Florida Blood Services was notified of the intent soon after it was revealed that tests failed to detect HIV in donated blood. The victims, the man in his 20s filing the suit and a woman in her mid-60s, were told July 17 that they had contracted HIV from blood and plasma transfusions in Hillsborough and Pinellas county hospitals, according to Florida Blood Services, which processed the blood. The donor gave infected blood in March, but had contracted the disease so recently that tests on the blood didn't detect it, officials have said. Florida Blood Services contends it has done nothing wrong. The agency has not released the names of the donor or the recipients, or said where they were treated. The man's attorney, Steve Barnes, said he was infected in March during abdominal surgery. The hospital declined comment.

Gay health conferences set for U.S., Canada

WASHINGTON -- A national lesbian health conference is planned for Washington in September, followed by a gay and lesbian medical association conference in Canada during October. The Mautner Project will present the "National Lesbian Health Conference 2002: Healing Works" from Sept. 26 to 28. The conference is sponsored by a broad coalition of more than 60 groups and agencies. Featured speakers include Kate Kendall, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights; Francine Ramsey, executive director of the Zuna Institute and co-founder of the National Black Lesbian Conference; and Caitlin Ryan, gay and lesbian youth issues expert and co-founder of the National Lesbian & Gay Health Foundation. Speakers at the second conference, organized by the Gay & Lesbian Medical Association and set for Oct. 24-26 in Toronto, include Patricia Ireland, former president of the National Organization for Women, and Allan Rock, Canada's industry minister and former minister of health.

From staff and wire reports

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