By initiating a national treatment plan now, Morocco is in the enviable position of contemplating whether it can stop AIDS in its tracks. The country has a tiny epidemic - only 1,060 reported AIDS cases by last September 30. But since few people are now tested for HIV itself, no one really knows how big the epidemic is.
More than 2,500 experts gathered in November for Glasgow's biennial International Congress on Drug Therapy in HIV Infection. The conference setting imparted a European flavor to the proceedings, which tackled the ongoing themes of antiretroviral therapy — when to start therapy, how to start, pharmacology and drug toxicities. Metabolic side effects, in particular, garnered a renewed focus.
It is the middle of June, and the rainy season has settled upon southern Mexico’s Oaxaca state. In the Sierra Madre mountain range, dark storm clouds begin gathering at midday, blending into the dense fog that wraps itself around tall pines covering the volcanic peaks. Visibility is near zero.
How tomatoes grow, what determines a beetle’s eye color, and how to block HIV are very different questions. Yet molecular biologists are now reaching for the same genetic tool to find the answers. Small interfering RNA (siRNA) is a new technology that holds great promise in all these areas.
The FDA approved tenofovir (Viread) one year ago for treating HIV as either first-line or salvage therapy. Even as the debate persists over the drug's best use, tenofovir sales continue to climb. They reached $44.7 million in the second quarter of this year.
Some of the most promising news from the 14th International AIDS Conference, held last month in Barcelona, Spain, included the results for the first of a new class of AIDS drugs called fusion inhibitors. This novel class holds hope for the growing population of treatment-experienced patients who have developed single- or multiple-drug resistance to the current market of antiretrovirals.
The 14th International AIDS Conference that took place last July in Barcelona, Spain reflected significant pro-gress in providing global access to HIV treatment. Four years ago, global access was dismissed at the 12th Con-ference as an impossible dream, and it remained highly controversial two years ago at the 13th Conference in Durban, South Africa.
Researchers have been studying HIV's shadowy third enzyme, integrase, and its role in virus replication for the past 12 years. Their goal was to understand integrase well enough to be able one day to develop a drug that will inhibit the enzyme and keep the virus in check. That day might be coming soon.
Only 5% of those who require HIV therapy have access to it in developing countries. The World Health Organization wants to multiply that figure tenfold over the next three years, so that three million people receive treatment. Its officials have just issued draft treatment guidelines that provide a public health model for HIV disease management in resource-poor settings.
Developing an effective microbicide "is one of the most important things that we can do" to reduce the spread of HIV, Peter Piot told the opening session of the Microbicides 2002 conference in Antwerp, Belgium, on May 12.
Seen from the air, the sprawling port city of Mumbai (formerly Bombay) resembles a rough gray and brown patchwork. There are shiny, well-scrubbed areas like Malabar Hill with sleek hi-rise hotels and designer boutiques favored by the stars of India's movie industry, Bollywood.
In the past three years persons with HIV have finally begun to receive liver and kidney transplants at various transplant centers in the U.S. and Europe. The results are not always successful: Boston AIDS and hepatitis activist Belynda Dunn’s liver transplant ended with her death on March 12. Her new liver did not function, and she expired due to a lung complication as doctors were trying to transplant a second organ.
Growing concern over the long-term side effects of antiretrovirals led the British HIV Association1 (BHIVA) and the U.S. [quote] Department of Health and Human Services2 (HHS) panel to propose further delays in starting therapy. BHIVA takes the more conservative stance, advising deferral of treatment for asymptomatic people with CD4 counts above 350 cells/mm3.
Researchers have long wondered why people respond differently to drugs. This question also occurred to Swiss investigators who have been tracking a 5,000-member observational study group that records the experience of people with HIV (the "Swiss HIV Cohort"). They noticed differences in peoples' drug levels despite good adherence.
When Secretary of State Colin Powell remarked to an international MTV audience on Valentine's Day, "I believe condoms is [sic] part of the solution to the HIV/AIDS crisis," he was not whistling in the wind. Rather, his remarks were a notable straw in the wind. They reflect a rift within the Bush administration between pragmatists and religious fundamentalists on AIDS prevention strategy.
Quick approval of antiretrovirals in the late 1990s saved lives, but at a price. The speedy development and testing of these potent drugs, in relatively small studies, gave researchers little opportunity to size up side effects. Obvious short-term problems—nausea with ritonavir and rash with nevirapine, for example—seemed a fair tradeoff for the rapidly recognized clinical benefits.
A December symposium sponsored by the National Cancer Institute heard dire warnings on the frequent emergence of drug resistant HIV. The symposium, the second annual one on antiviral drug resistance, was organized by the NCI’s special HIV Drug Resistance Program.
One of HIV medicine’s greatest achievements was the almost complete eradication of mother-to-child transmission of HIV in the United States. In the year 2000, only about 6% of mothers known to have HIV passed the virus on to their newborns.
Three million people throughout the world died of AIDS last year, of whom 2.3 million were Africans. The enormous scale and relentless pace of [quote]the HIV epidemic has fueled activists’ demands for wider access to HIV treatment.
Disclaimer: The editors have taken all such care as they consider reasonable in preparing this database, but they cannot be held responsible for any inaccuracies or mis-statements of fact contained herein. Inclusion in this database of any information on any treatment, therapy, or clinical trial in no way represents an endorsement of that treatment, therapy, or trial by ÆGiS or any of its sponsors. This data should always be used in conjunction with professional medical advice.