AEGiS-WashBlade: Medical Report: New HIV test improves ability to detect drug-resistant strains

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Medical Report: New HIV test improves ability to detect drug-resistant strains

Washington Blade - January 19, 2007

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) - Detecting whether patients with HIV/AIDS are infected with even small amounts of drug-resistant forms of the virus can be done with a test developed by researchers at Duke University Medical Center. Findings were announced this week online in the journal Nature Methods. While other tests only pick up drug-resistant strains when they represent a significant portion of the virus in a person's bloodstream, the test developed at Duke may enable doctors to more accurately predict which medicines will work for patients and which drugs will ultimately fail. So far, the test has been used for research purposes only. Duke is seeking patents that will enable it to develop a diagnostic screening for future commercial use. A private industry backer is still needed, along with other studies that demonstrate the process helps improve treatment outcome.

Algae gel could combat HIV infection

LONDON - A microbe-killing gel extracted from algae found on the coast of Brazil may prove helpful in blocking HIV infection for women and proved 95 percent efficient in preliminary lab tests, the BBC reported last week. A research team working on the project hopes the gel will eventually be on the market though it could take seven years or more for that to happen and the efficiency rate of a final product may not be as high as lab tests now are because of a variety of factors. The gel is a microbicide, a form of treatment drug that could be a gel, ring, sponge or cream to prevent HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. The first generation of these microbicides now being tested should be on the market with a 50 to 60 percent rate of effectiveness within four years, the BBC said. The algae gel is set for a second round of testing to begin in February on mice and live cells from the cervix. Human studies could begin next year.

Experts recommend earlier HIV treatment

LONDON - HIV treatment guidelines should be revised so that antiretroviral therapy starts when an infected person's CD4 cell count falls to 350 cells per cubic millimeter of blood, according to a new report called the SMART treatment interruption study, in the British Medical Journal, NAM, an AIDS organization from the U.K., reported last week. Some studies have shown that CD4 cell count numbers are more likely to return to normal levels after antiretroviral therapy when it begins when a person's cell count is above 350 cells per cubic millimeter of blood than those who waited until their count fell to the range of 250 to 200 cells per cubic millimeter, which is currently recommended. The SMART study said some factors support the position of earlier treatment such as research that found patients who waited to start treatment had a greater risk of experiencing HIV disease progression and also faced more health risks from non-HIV-related diseases.

OraSure sees trials of oral hepatitis C test ending this year

NEW YORK (AP) - OraSure Technologies' chief executive said last week he expects clinical trials of a rapid oral test for the detection of hepatitis C to be completed by the end of this year. Once the trials of the test - being jointly developed by OraSure and Schering-Plough Corp. - are completed, the company will apply for marketing approval in the United States and in Europe soon thereafter, CEO Douglas Michels said in an interview. Last week, Schering-Plough and Beaverton, Ore. based OraSure - which already makes the only approved HIV rapid oral test - inked a two-year deal to jointly develop and market the oral hepatitis C test in the United States, beginning the day the test is marketed. Schering-Plough will provide the test - which is expected to be similar to the HIV product and take 20 minutes to administer - to physicians.

U.N. urges Southeast Asian leaders to boost efforts to combat HIV

CEBU, Philippines (AP) - Southeast Asian leaders must do more to contain the spread of HIV/AIDS, the United Nations said last week, calling for increased funding for treatment and programs targeting high-risk groups. Asia has the second largest number of people living with HIV after Africa, and for the first time, leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations held a special session on HIV/AIDS at a summit last week, signaling their commitment to containing the disease. An UNAIDS report presented to the leaders last week calls for a "very strong and direct funding" for HIV programs targeting people at the highest risk of infection.

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