Washington Blade - December 27, 2002

NEW YORK -- Some 50 to 75 percent of gay men, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered people don't tell their doctors about their sexual orientation, according to a study released Dec. 18, Reuters Health reported. Witeck-Combs Communications, a gay-owned public relations group, and research firm Harris Interactive conducted the online survey of 2,062 heterosexual and 159 gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender adults. Only 23 percent of bisexuals, 55 percent of lesbians and 67 percent of gay men said they discussed sexual orientation with their doctors. By not coming out to health care providers, gays may miss out on screenings for certain conditions, according to Kathleen DeBold, executive director of the Mautner Project, a lesbian health advocacy group. Also, "because of homophobia or perceived homophobia in the health system, gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders often delay care," DeBold said.

AIDS virus protein eludes body's defenses, study finds

NEW YORK -- A part of the AIDS virus that was considered vulnerable to attack can camouflage itself by changing shapes, according to a report in the Dec. 12 issue of the journal Nature. The study helps show why HIV is so hard to target and kill, the Associated Press reported. HIV cripples the immune system by infecting and killing T-cells. It uses a protein structure on its surface called gp120 to gain entry to the cells. In 1998, scientists announced that they figured out much about the structure of gp120 and hoped that finding a vulnerability in it could lead to vaccines against HIV. But finding gp120's weakness remains elusive, in part because the protein varies from strain to strain. Some scientists believed that the best hope was in targeting an area of gp120 common to all strains. But the new work shows that this region is more elusive than previously thought, because it is composed of very flexible parts that let it take on different shapes. "There's a lot of mobility within the protein. It's a blurry, moving structure that is very difficult for the immune system to deal with," said Joseph Sodroski of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, one of the researchers.

Study asks if HIV meds increase heart disease

LONDON --Professor Ian Weller of University College, London, said Dec. 9 that drug companies will continue to study whether certain HIV drugs put patients at heightened risk for heart disease and other health problems, Reuters Health Reported. Last month, the European AIDS Treatment Group told the Steering Committee on the Metabolic Complications of Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Treatment -- made up of scientists, drug company officials and regulators -- that the group feared the studies would end before conclusions could be drawn. "I think I can confidently say now that we have funding agreed for a further year from all the companies involved and for a second year from most," said Weller, a British member of the committee. The studies began in 1999 and could require monitoring HIV patients for decades to determine the long-term impact of the medications.

Experimental HIV drug faces manufacturing delay

LOS ANGELES -- Makers of Fuzeon, an injection drug that could help people with HIV who are resistant to other antiretroviral drugs, said Dec. 18 they may not be able to meet demand for the drug in 2003, Reuters reported. Roche Holding AG said its Colorado plant is working to make the drug, but the manufacturing process took longer than expected, and initial batches were smaller than expected. A decision from federal regulators on an application to market the drug in the U.S. is expected by March 16; while Roche officials initially said they plan to be able to supply the drug to 25,000 patients by the end of the year, the company scaled back the number to 15,000. Fuzeon is the first drug in a new class of HIV medications called "fusion inhibitors."

Patent fight continues over HIV drug AZT

NEW YORK -- The AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the country's largest AIDS care provider, requested that a U.S. federal court issue a preliminary injunction preventing GlaxoSmithKline from defending its patent on the AIDS medication AZT. The health care organization also filed a lawsuit against the British drug company, alleging inflated prices and patent fraud, Reuters Health reported. "They lied to the patent office in the 1980s about discovering AZT's ability to treat AIDS, and in doing so secured exclusive rights to manufacture it," AHF President Michael Weinstein said in a statement. "AZT was developed with federal assistance in the 1960s, and the National Institutes of Health tested it for HIV use in the 1980s, but Glaxo secured patents on the substance in the 1980s and locked competitors out," he said. "They then priced AZT at 32 times the cost of manufacture, a practice repeated with every new AIDS drug since then." A spokesperson for the drug company called the lawsuit frivolous. The court will hear arguments on the preliminary injunction on March 10.

From staff and wire reports

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