[Note: AIDS TREATMENT NEWS has published a series of articles looking in depth at some of the bizarre ideas about AIDS, theories which are being used to persuade people to change or completely stop their medical treatment, or to ignore precautions for preventing HIV infection. One of the most bizarre is that the epidem
Starting January 1 more disabled and elderly people will become eligible for MediCal (Medicaid) in California. Benefits expert Tom McCormack circulated the following email explaining the change: Effective January 1, 2001, California will raise its MediCal (Medicaid) income eligibility level for single aged and disabled
Shortly before World AIDS Day (December 1), a coalition of AIDS and health groups including MSF (Médecins Sans Frontièrs, or Doctors Without Borders) called on pharmaceutical companies to reduce prices of AIDS drugs 95% in poor countries--reductions comparable to those already in use for vaccines and contraceptives. MS
On November 28 UNAIDS (the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS) and the World Health Organization issued their annual report on the status of the global epidemic--an authoritative though not infallible report that provides a worldwide common basis for discussion. The 30-page AIDS EPIDEMIC UPDATE: DECEMBER 2000 i
A new study in San Francisco will try to find out if someone who already has HIV can be additionally infected with a different strain of HIV. Some experts doubt that such superinfection can occur--but no one knows because cases would not be found by the tests used in standard medical care. The answer is very important,
The first randomized, controlled study of structured treatment interruption (STI) found that monkeys on a three week on, three week off treatment schedule controlled the virus about as well as those which were on continuous therapy (and therefore received twice as much of the drugs). Also, those in the intermittent-tre
Starting January 2 AIDS TREATMENT NEWS will publish from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where we will work closely with Philadelphia FIGHT, a well-known AIDS treatment, research, and information organization. I will remain in complete control of the content of this newsletter, and readers will notice little immediate chan
Lynde Francis is the founder and director The Centre, in Harare, Zimbabwe , an organization run by and for people living with HIV. She is also the regional contact for Southern Africa for the ICW, the International Community of Women Living with HIV and AIDS. We met Ms. Francis several years ago in San Francisco, and i
On November 15 the FDA approved Trizivir (R), a product that combines adult doses of three previously approved Glaxo- Wellcome drugs -- AZT , 3TC , and
On November 9 Boehringer Ingelheim Roxane Laboratories notified medical professionals that the FDA-required labeling for its drug nevirapine had strengthened its warnings about risks of liver and other toxicities, due to reported cases of seri
On November 6 a community forum, HIV Therapy Update from the Recent ICAAC and Glasgow Meetings, was sponsored by three San Francisco AIDS organizations (the Conant Foundation, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, and the AIDS Research Institute of the University of California San Francisco); unlike most medical meetings,
Effective January 1, 2000 we are raising all subscription prices for AIDS TREATMENT NEWS except those for persons with financial difficulties. The reason is the changing demographics of the epidemic, which means we must provide more free subscriptions, when we have less income because fewer subscribers can afford to pa
On October 31 we received the following help-wanted announcement from the New York office of the American Foundation for AIDS Research: AmFAR seeks qualified individual to write/edit variety of communications materials, including newsletter, brochures, reports, web content, talking points, Annual Report, etc. Emphasis
A nationwide shortage of this year s influenza vaccine has temporarily closed the vaccination program of the San Francisco Department of Public Health. Because of the shortage, the Health Department s program here is restricted to persons at highest risk of severe complications from influenza: those 50 years of age or
A report from the AIDS Research Institute of the University of California San Francisco found that in the four large states which were studied (Texas, Florida, California, and New York), many patients are unable to obtain proper HIV medications through both Medicaid and ADAP (the AIDS Drug Assistance Program). In Texas
On November 1 the NEW YORK TIMES reported that the Immune Response Corporation tried to block the publication of a scientific paper that showed its HIV vaccine was not effective, and it has asked for damages of more than $7 million from the universities and researchers who published the findings. (1) The disputed paper
Finally the abstracts of the XIII International Conference on AIDS (Durban, South Africa , July 9-14, 2000) are available on the Web, through an easy-to-use site set up by the U.S. National Library of Medicine at http://www.iac2000.org You can search for any topic of interest. For example, type vitamin into the Abst
Any community member who wants to attend the 8th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, February 4-8, 2001, in Chicago, must act now. You cannot get into this conference by paying at the door. If you write for a well-known AIDS community newsletter, you can probably get in through the community press
On October 31 the FDA approved a new once-daily formulation of ddI which is easier and less complicated to take, avoids certain drug interactions, and may reduce diarrhea or other gastrointestinal side effects. But the overall safety and efficacy of the drug remain about the same. ddI (
Many San Francisco patients who see physicians at Davies Campus of California Pacific Medical Center, in the heavily gay Castro area of the city, will need to change doctors on November 1--due to insurance changes triggered by the ongoing incentive to drive expensive patients out of insurance plans, by targeting the do
This week South Africa s Treatment Action Committee (TAC), the major HIV treatment activist group in the country, defied patent laws by importing generic fluconazole from Thailand , where TAC purchased it more than 50 times cheaper than the South African retail price, according to news reports in the country. Many peop
On October 16 the FDA s Antiviral Drugs Advisory Committee met to explore issues around what advice the Agency should give to industry on development and approval of immune- based treatments (see announcement in AIDS TREATMENT NEWS #351, September 22, 2000). It seemed widely agreed that the meeting went well, and was i
On October 20 researchers reported that a modern high-tech vaccine protected all monkeys vaccinated from becoming ill from an HIV-like virus, while half of the control monkeys given a sham vaccine instead had died of the infection by day 140.(1) This careful, well-designed experiment was important in showing that vacci
We were surprised to learn how much work has been published recently on glutathione blood level, oxidative stress, and/or NAC or similar treatments to correct abnormally low glutathione, in various illnesses including HIV infection. Here are some of the papers that have been published in 1998, 1999, and 2000, listed al
[Disclosure: The senior authors of the NAC study reported here, Drs. LA Herzenberg, both Ph.D., of the Department of Genetics at Stanford University, are on the board of AIDS Treatment News Associates, our nonprofit arm which helps fund newsletter subscriptions for prisoners, persons with low income, and others who can
Much new research (some published only this year) suggests that N-acetylcysteine (NAC), or other treatments to restore abnormally low blood levels of glutathione, may be helpful in HIV infection and a number of other illnesses as well. For years NAC has been one of the most popular alternative treatments; the new infor
AIDS TREATMENT NEWS Issue #351, September 22, 2000
John S. James
Our last issue, AIDS TREATMENT NEWS #350, explains the evidence that HIV/AIDS treatment has improved survival; we published it to help counter organized misinformation campaigns which say that antiretroviral treatments are poisons which are only harmful, and that people with HIV should reject all HIV medications or all
AIDS TREATMENT NEWS Issue #351, September 22, 2000
John S. James
The Summer 2000 edition of the CRITICAL PATH AIDS PROJECT newsletter is dedicated to leading activist and Critical Path founder Kiyoshi Kuromiya. In addition, this issue has a section on prisoners with HIV and resources for their health, updates on hepatitis C advocacy, reports from Latin America and
AIDS TREATMENT NEWS Issue #351, September 22, 2000
John S. James
A recent WASHINGTON POST article describes the remarkable success of Brazil s AIDS programs, both prevention and treatment: Infection rates have returned to 1995 levels. Over the past five years, the number of AIDS-related deaths has plummeted in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, the regions most deeply affected. In Rio de
AIDS TREATMENT NEWS Issue #351, September 22, 2000
John S. James
Deadlines start now for the 8th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, which will be held February 4-8, 2001 in Chicago. This important scientific conference is always held in a location too small to accommodate all who want to go and would be allowed to attend; so if you want to get in you need to pa
AIDS TREATMENT NEWS Issue #351, September 22, 2000
John S. James
Until recently it was unusual for patients to find out what leading medical specialists and other experts were saying about treatment for their conditions. But today experts summarize important AIDS-related conferences on the Web, often within days of when they happened, so persons anywhere can follow leading-edge work
AIDS TREATMENT NEWS Issue #351, September 22, 2000
John S. James
Many scientists, physicians, and other experts believe that immune-based therapies will be the next great area of advance in HIV/AIDS treatment--with huge implications for HIV vaccines, as well as new treatments or vaccines for cancer and many other diseases. But progress has been held back by lack of a clear developme
AIDS TREATMENT NEWS Issue #351, September 22, 2000
John S. James
Researchers have learned important details of how the immune system first controls HIV, and how the virus evades it, through a study in monkeys published this week in NATURE.(1,2) For some time it has been widely believed that a kind of T cell called cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) is particularly important in controlling
AIDS TREATMENT NEWS Issue #351, September 22, 2000
John S. James
On September 15 the FDA approved Kaletra (TM) (formerly called ABT-378/r), a protease inhibitor, for use in combination with other antiretroviral agents for treatment of HIV infection. Kaletra was already in use by several thousand patients, through a pre-approval expanded access program for persons who coul
On August 15 ACT UP Philadelphia announced that all of its members who were arrested two weeks ago during the Republican convention in Philadelphia are now out of jail. All of them face criminal charges. All or almost all of the demonstrators (not only those from ACT UP Philadelphia) are now out of jail. Many of those
HIV infection in San Francisco is increasing among men who have sex with men, and there are now about 750-900 new infections per year in the city. At the same time, the number of new HIV infections in IV drug users who do not have sex with men has gone down substantially--as has the number of heterosexual HIV transmiss
A national problem with health insurance is illustrated by a California bill to prevent companies from raising drug deductibles and co-payments during the course of a patient s illness. This bill, AB 1722, has passed the California Assembly and been sent to the Senate. Recently it has turned out that the bill might not
The fourth annual United States Conference on AIDS (USCA) will take place October 1-4 in Atlanta; conference pre- registration is due September 5, and hotel reservations should be made by September 8. This meeting of more than 3,000 service providers, people living with HIV/AIDS, policymakers, public officials, funders
This one-day meeting is being presented by the American Liver Foundation to bring together organizations from the Bay Area who are not directly related to hepatitis or liver disease, and provide them with the necessary tools to help educate their community about the causes and effects of viral hepatitis. Who should att
Michelle Roland, M.D., of the University of California Positive Health Program at San Francisco General Hospital, will speak on HIV drug resistance on Thursday, August 31, at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, 280 West MacArthur Blvd., Oakland. Light food will be provided at 6 p.m., with the presentation at 6:30 p.m. to
A one-day conference on the problem of bacterial resistance to antibiotics will be held in conjunction with the ICAAC conference (see ICAAC, September 17-20 in Toronto, in this issue). Infectious diseases are the leading case of death worldwide, and the third leading cause of death in the United States , follo
The 40th Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy will take place September 17-20, 2000, at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada . This annual conference, organized by the American Society for Microbiology in Washington DC, usually attracts about 10,000 people; it focuse
A free one-hour expert telephone conference on the highlights of the annual ICAAC (the 40th Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy) will take place September 19 starting at 5 p.m. Pacific time / 6 p.m. Mountain / 7 p.m. Central / 8 p.m. Eastern time. (ICAAC itself is mid September in Toronto--
An accidental discovery in Thailand led researchers at the U.S. Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences in Bangkok and several other U.S. and Thai medical institutions to conduct additional research which found that the disease scrub typhus can produce unknown HIV suppressive factors, possibly certain antib
On August 4 Abbott Laboratories announced that its Early Access Program for the second-generation protease inhibitor Kaletra (formerly ABT-378/r) can accept more patients. Since January, the criteria have allowed access to any HIV+ patient for whom Kaletra is necessary to construct a viable regimen, wi
A free one-hour telephone conference with leading AIDS treatment experts will summarize highlights of the 2nd International Workshop on Adverse Drug Reactions and Lipodystrophy (September 13-15 in Toronto, Canada ), where research findings about adverse reactions to antiretrovirals will be presented. The one-hour summa
In July 2000, Glaxo Wellcome sent a letter to physicians warning them to be especially careful when restarting abacavir after it has been discontinued. It has long been known that abacavir must never be re-started after it has been stopped due to a hypersensitivity reaction to this drug.
AID for AIDS, a medicine recycling program based in New York City, collects antiretrovirals which otherwise would be thrown away in the U.S. and distributes them without charge to persons with HIV in Latin America. The program has been operating for four years, and recently presented results at the XIII International A
** Oakland Buyers Club Injunction Modified On July 17 a Federal judge in San Francisco changed his previous injunction and ruled that the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative could resume sale of medical marijuana, under tight controls. The same judge had previously ordered the cooperative and several other medical mari
After years of bureaucratic nightmare, a research team at the University of California has completed a safety study of smoked marijuana vs. oral dronabinol (Marinol(R), an FDA- approved oral drug with the same main active ingredient as marijuana) vs. placebo in HIV/AIDS patients being treated with an antiviral regimen
As we go to press on August 7, more than 250 protesters are still in Philadelphia jails after protests during the Republican convention; most were arrested August 1. At least two of the leaders of the movement for affordable HIV/AIDS treatments in Africa and other developing countries are being held on bail up to $1,00
The following is the beginning of the closing address of Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa , at the XIII International AIDS Conference, Durban July 14, 2000. He was repeatedly applauded by the delegates. To have been asked to deliver the closing address at this conference which in a very literal sense co
As usual, the International Conference on AIDS this year was weak on nutrition, but there was information in scattered abstracts and presentations. A search for selenium found three abstracts, two of which concerned nutrition. Selenium deficiency is associated with shedding of HIV-1 infected cells in the female genital
Today more than 90% of people with HIV or AIDS have no access to modern medical care for this condition; the most prominent but not the only obstacle is price. Much more happened on this issue during the Durban conference (the XIII International AIDS Conference, July 9-14, 2000) than ever before. Some highlights: * MSF
Selenium is a mineral which is essential in human nutrition in very small amounts (larger amounts are toxic). New research, much in the last five years, is finding that selenium deficiency may be involved in many important diseases, including HIV. The fact that this mineral has been the subject of irresponsible promoti
Press reports from the Durban conference mentioned a trial in Dr. Fauci s group at the U.S. National Institutes of Health in which antiretroviral treatment was given one week on and one week off. Physicians are concerned that some patients may try this without medical advice--which could be very harmful. It was not cle
A major but under-addressed problem in HIV care is that health plans use various ways to avoid HIV and AIDS patients by restricting or eliminating the doctors who treat them. Even though it is well known that HIV patients who receive specialist care do better and live longer than those treated by non-specialist physici
A June 21 press release from the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) described a collaboration between government and industry which produced an experimental drug candidate which may be the first new kind of tuberculosis drug in more than 30 years. The new compound, still in laboratory te
The most effective prevention messages are those which help provide skills to be used interpersonally regarding refusal, delay, and negotiation: ability to say no when pressured to have sex, to put off sex if unwanted, and to negotiate to use condoms. Role plays, rehearsals, et cetera, are most criticalÉ Unfortunately
The City and County of San Francisco Department of Public Health released the following statement by the San Francisco HIV Prevention Planning Council on June 29, 2000: The HIV Prevention Planning Council (HPPC) is a community planning group set up by mandate of the [U.S.] Centers for Disease Control to prioritize HIV
Over 5,000 scientists from around the world have signed the Durban Declaration affirming that HIV is the cause of AIDS. The list includes 11 Nobel Prize winners, as well as directors of leading research institutes and presidents of academies and medical societies, including the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the Ro
A toll-free interactive telephone conference on Thursday, July 20 (5:00 p.m. Pacific time, 8:00 p.m. Eastern time) will feature a panel of experts to discuss what s most important from the XIII International AIDS Conference in Durban, July 9-14. U.S. participants can call toll-free, but advance registration is required
An official Webcast of the XIII International AIDS Conference (Durban, South Africa , July 9-14) will be available at http://webcast.aids2000.com . It will provide abstracts, video and audio broadcast of select presentationsÉ Users will be able to view presentations by date, and then click on the selected presentation
At this one-day meeting of its Antiviral Drugs Advisory Committee, the FDA will seek expert advice on using data relevant to actual drug levels in the body in its future drug approvals. We are interested for two reasons. First, pharmaceutical companies have often neglected obvious, rapid, and inexpensive testing that w
Persons attending the XIII International AIDS Conference should print out and follow the security precautions on the conference Web site, http://www.aids2000.com (click on Safety and Security ). Previous International AIDS Conferences have been held in some of the world s safest cities (such as Geneva or Vancouver); Du
At each International Conference on AIDS there is an activist march on the opening day. This year the theme is access to treatment for everyone who needs it--including persons in developing countries. The following call for treatment was developed by the Treatment Action Campaign of South Africa (TAC, http://www.ta
South Africa s Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), which does excellent work for access to HIV treatment in South Africa and elsewhere and does not accept funding from pharmaceutical companies or the South African government, needs donations to help its organizing around the World AIDS Conference in Durban in early July.
MEN LIKE US, the GMHC complete guide to gay men s sexual, physical, and emotional well-being written by the Gay Men s Health Crisis and Daniel Wolfe (Ballentine Books, April 2000, paperback 656 pages, $24.95--hard cover also available) deals with health, sex, people, communication, relationships, and spirituality; almo
A 22-page booklet on HIV drug-resistance testing, written by well-known AIDS activists Tim Horn and Spencer Cox and edited by resistance expert Douglas Richman, M.D., is available without charge. HIV resistance tests are used to tell which drugs the patient s virus has developed resistance to, so that a new regimen can
An article by treatment activist Jeff Getty of Survive AIDS, Emerging Bone Problems in HIV-Infected Patients, is now available at http://www.hivandhepatitis.com/special/srhiv009.html There are two kinds of bone problems which seem to be increasing in persons with HIV: avascular necrosis, and more recently, osteopenia (
About 250 researchers met in Sitges, Spain for the 4th International Workshop on HIV Drug Resistance and Treatment Strategies, June 12-16. This important annual meeting is closed and usually held in out-of-the-way locations, so there is often a bottleneck in getting information to the interested public. But some report
The Medscape HIV/AIDS Annual Update 2000--based on the Clinical Care Options for HIV Symposium, May 4-7, 2000--is on the Web at http://hiv.medscape.com. This review, written for AIDS physicians by leading experts, is important because this Symposium s clinical focus--on practical issues in the doctor s office, more tha
The XIII International AIDS Conference--the world meeting on AIDS which is held every two years--will meet in Durban, South Africa July 9-14. AIDS TREATMENT NEWS will be there but we will not publish live reports. Our next issue, #346, will be mailed before the conference but may not be received until the meeting is un
On June 1 Abbott Laboratories announced that it had filed a New Drug Application with the U.S. FDA for accelerated approval of its new protease inhibitor, new brand name Kaletra (pronunciation Kuh Lee Truh) (generic name lopi
This year s conference of the Global Health Council will focus on children, and expects more than 1,200 public health advocates, policy makers, caregivers, and front-line providers. HIV/AIDS topics include: * Working with traditional healers; * Mobilizing to fight AIDS in Africa; * Peer education and HIV/AIDS preventio
On May 30, a few weeks before the World AIDS Conference in Durban, South Africa (July 9-14), AIDS TREATMENT NEWS interviewed Peter Piot, M.D., executive director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS ( UNAIDS ), on current international issues in the control of the epidemic. * * * ATN: What is the impor
[Note: Reporter Bruce Mirken investigated an attempt by the San Francisco Department of Public Health, against strong medical advice, to close a locked psychiatric ward for financial reasons. He found that the local problem was caused in part by irrational Federal, state, and private-insurance policies that determine h
A major health policy overview on what is happening in clinical trials--and on pharmaceutical-industry manipulation of the design, conduct, and reporting of trials to get commercially favorable results(1)--was published May 18 in the NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE; it is available on the Web at http://www.nejm.org/con
A study at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York is recruiting men or women with HIV who also have any two or more of the following symptoms for at least six weeks: * Numbness in the legs; * Unsteady, stiff or uncoordinated gait; * Urinary frequency, urgency or incontinence; * Erectile impairment; * Weakness in the le
The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) will fund testing of a new kind of preventive vaccine, which has been developed at the Institute for Human Virology (IHV), started in 1996 by Robert Gallo, M.D., at the University of Maryland. IAVI funds promising AIDS vaccines under intellectual- property agreements whi
A one-hour telephone conference call, Structured Treatment Interruptions & Drug Holidays in HIV Infection will allow callers to hear from leading experts and ask them questions; those who cannot join the call can hear a recording later, or read a transcript on the Web. This call was organized by HIVandHepatitis.co
The following notice by Kiyoshi s friends in Philadelphia was posted on the Web site of Critical Path AIDS Project, an organization Kiyoshi founded. * * * We regret to inform you that Kiyoshi Kuromiya, one of the world s leading AIDS activists, died on the night of May 10, 2000, due to complications from AIDS. To the l
Organizers of the march at the opening of the XIII International AIDS Conference (Durban, South Africa , July 9- 14, 2000)--the march referred to by Coovadia in the interview above--are seeking endorsements for the event through a Global Call for access to treatment. Here is the beginning of the Global Call: * *
The XIII International AIDS Conference--the largest and perhaps the most important AIDS meeting in the world--now occurs only once every two years; the next one is in Durban, South Africa , July 9-14, 2000. On May 10 AIDS TREATMENT NEWS interviewed Conference Chair Dr. Hoosen M. (Jerry) Coovadia, about the program--and
On May 15 the San Francisco District Attorney s office filed misdemeanor charges against four persons in the April 17 disruption of a treatment information meeting sponsored by Project Inform and Survive AIDS (formerly ACT UP Golden Gate). Charged with misdemeanor assault and trespassing were David Pasquarelli and Andr
New guidelines from the International AIDS Society-USA recommend HIV drug-resistance testing (either phenotypic or genotypic) in a number of patient-care situations; the guidelines were published in JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association , May 10, 2000.(1) Each recommendation reflects a unanimous vote of
AIDS TREATMENT NEWS and other AIDS organizations are receiving more and more requests for assistance from organizations in Africa and elsewhere in the developing world, asking how they can be helpful for persons who are ill. We are planning to publish guides to available information in several areas: 1. Nutritional, in
Several major developments could help gain access to treatment for the 90% or more of people with HIV who live in developing countries and currently have no chance of receiving any antiretroviral medication. * On May 11, five major pharmaceutical companies and UNAIDS (the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS) ann
For over ten years self-styled AIDS dissidents have said that HIV does not cause AIDS, that AIDS is not a contagious disease, that HIV is a harmless retrovirus (some say, instead, that HIV does not exist), that AIDS treatments are poisons which themselves cause the disease, and that the AIDS epidemic is a huge medical
Ian Roberts, M.D., special advisor to the South African Ministry of Health, has resigned from the government because he felt that he was not being effective in the Ministry in the battle against HIV/AIDS in Africa. Dr. Roberts had been asked to suggest members for an international panel of AIDS advisors to focus on the
The 17th annual International AIDS Candlelight Memorial will take place this year on Sunday, May 21. The memorial consists of locally organized events around the world. Last year they took place is more than 300 locations in 43 nations, including every continent except Antarctica . This year s memorial is coordi
A one-day meeting on key issues of prisoners with HIV and/or hepatitis will be held June 17, 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. near Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C. It is sponsored by the National Prison Project of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). From the conference flyer: No Lost Causes: An Action Meeting on HIV and
The Retroviruses conference, considered by many to be the single most important scientific conference on AIDS, last took place January 30 - February 2 in San Francisco. Now a 32-page report offers short, readable summaries of many of the important treatment topics presented. Major sections include: * Structured and Uns
Efavirenz is an approved antiretroviral currently available in the U.S. and other countries in capsule form--and recommended for pediatric use in the latest GUIDELINES FOR THE USE OF ANTIRETROVIRAL AGENTS IN PEDIATRIC HIV INFECTION (January 2000). A liquid formulation for persons who have difficulty using the capsule
On April 12 the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products (EMEA) issued a warning on risks of severe or life-threatening skin or liver reactions to nevirapine , requiring precautions especially for patients starting the drug, during their first 8 weeks of treatment. The full public statement is available
Recently Glaxo Wellcome issued a warning that some patients may be at risk from the liquid form of the drug amprenavir (AGENERASE), because they might not be able to metabolize the large amount of propylene glycol which is used to dissolve the drug in the liquid.
A free telephone conference in which callers can ask experts about the most promising new HIV drugs in development and about new treatment strategies will take place Tuesday, May 23 at 5:00 p.m. Pacific time, 8:00 p.m. Eastern time. Panelists on this call are: * Ronald Baker, Ph.D., Editor-in-Chief, HIV and Hepatitis.c
After extensive analysis by the CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies, AIDS has been declared a threat to national security by the Clinton Administration. This move is important because it will involve many influential people and a major government apparatus, for the first time, in responding to the worldwide epidem
The following consensus statement reflects concerns that there might be a new round of major U.S. price increases for AIDS drugs over the next several months--starting with the new enteric-coated ddI, and the protease inhibitor ABT-378. If you or your organization can sign, send your endorsement by email to lgrinberg@a
AIDS TREATMENT NEWS will report on some of the treatment- related fact sheets published by various organizations. If any particular fact sheets have been especially useful to you or to your organization, or if you have other fact-sheet information, or ideas about what we should consider, we would appreciate hearing fro
The eight-part series AIDS: The Agony of Africa, by Mark Schoofs of THE VILLAGE VOICE, has won the 1999 Pulitzer prize for international reporting; the awards were announced on April 10. The complete series is available at http://www.villagevoice.com/specials/africa/ For more information about the Pulitzer Prize, inclu
On April 19 the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition asked support for a proposed tax incentive to boost private sector research and development on vaccines and microbicides to stop the biggest killing diseases worldwide: HIV, tuberculosis , and malaria... If you can only do one thing, call your Representative and your two
ACT UP Golden Gate, one of the leading ACT UP chapters in the nation, has changed its name to Survive AIDS, to avoid public confusion with an unrelated group using the name ACT UP San Francisco. The decision followed more than two years of discussion. The new organization will continue to identify and help solve proble
The self-styled AIDS dissidents, groups and individuals advocating the view that HIV does not cause AIDS, and often urging people with HIV to reject medical care, have raised their profile in recent months, ratcheting up their advocacy in the U.S. and attempting to influence the health policies of foreign governments.
Interest in what has become known as structured (or strategic) treatment interruption (STI) is high among people with HIV, judging from attendance at an April 17 community forum sponsored by Project Inform and Survive AIDS (formerly ACT UP Golden Gate). Project Inform s outreach coordinator counted 120 people in attend
A community teach-in on immune-based therapies, with information on current strategies for HIV management and on clinical trials in the New York area, will be held April 15, 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. at Judson Memorial Church, 55 Washington Square South at 4th St., New York City. Scheduled speakers include Mark Dybul, M.D., Ch
On April 3, Pfizer Inc. announced that it will donate its drug fluconazole (Diflucan(R)) to the South African government for use by patients with cryptococcal meningitis, a serious infection that occurs in many persons with AIDS. The disease is usually fatal unless treatment is continued for life. The drug costs more t
A bizarre dispute around AIDS dissidents who argue that HIV does not cause AIDS and oppose standard treatment to prevent maternal-infant transmission threatens to damage the World AIDS Conference in Durban (July 9-14, 2000) and divert attention from efforts to control the epidemic worldwide. Recently this unnecessary c
Paul Bellman, M.D., and his associate, Ricky Hsu, M.D., are in private practice in Manhattan. We asked Dr. Bellman about drug toxicity, treatment interruption, and other major issues he is seeing today in HIV/AIDS clinical care. * * * * * AIDS TREATMENT NEWS: Could you briefly describe your practice? Dr. Bellman: Dr. H
African Americans have access to modern HIV treatment, but far too many have not been tested and are not receiving medical care, according to speakers at the 2000 National Conference on African-Americans and AIDS, February 24 and 25 in Washington, D.C.; racism, sexism, homophobia, stigma associated with HIV and AIDS, l
The FDA recently launched an excellent Web site with detailed background on the drug-approval process. From the FDA press release: The information includes: -Drug Approval Application Process. An overview from test tube to marketing -Investigational New Drugs. Includes emergency INDs, FAQs, etc. -New Drug Applicati
On April 4 the FDA will hold a public hearing on regulation of claims for dietary supplements. While the technical issues involved do not directly affect AIDS treatment access, they are part of a larger issue which does. Anyone wishing to speak at this hearing must register in writing by March 28. But written comments
On March 13 the Nobel prize winning medical organization Doctors Without Borders/Medicins Sans Frontiers (MSF) demanded that Pfizer , Inc. greatly reduce the price of fluconazole in poor countries, in a communication delivered to the company in 18 countries (Pfizer is headquartered in New York). Doctors Without Borders
Several major vaccine announcements were made on March 2, at a conference on the President s Millennium Vaccine Initiative in the White House: * The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) will invest $10 million this year to help fund the development of six HIV vaccine candidates for developing countries. IAVI, f
BUILD TO SURVIVE, by AIDS treatment advocates Michael Mooney and Nelson Vergel, covering anabolic steroids , exercise, nutrition, and popular supplements (especially for preventing or treating HIV-related wasting), was published February 2000. Mooney and Vergel are also editors of the MEDIBOLICS newsletter, http://www.
On March 2 the Community Prescription Service, a mail-order pharmacy associated with POZ magazine and specializing in HIV, announced that it is selling a compounded testosterone cream. This product is not generally available in pharmacies. ( Compounded means that it is specially prepared by a pharmacist at the directio
Shashank R. Joshi, M.D., president of the HOPE Foundation in Mumbai, India , is an HIV specialist in a public hospital system with more than 36,000 patients with HIV; in addition, he follows over 500 HIV patients in his private practice, and more than 180 HIV-discordant couples. We asked Dr. Joshi to share information
Microbicides 2000, the first major conference focused on microbicides for HIV prevention, will be held March 13-16 at the Hilton Alexandria Mark Center, in Alexandria, Virginia, near Washington D.C. Information is available on the Web at http://www.nih.gov/od/oar; or contact Microbicides 2000, 7101 Wisconsin Avenue, Su
The 12th National AIDS Update Conference, now organized by AmFAR (the American Foundation for AIDS Research), will be held March 14-17 at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco. Complete information is available at http://www.nauc.org The National AIDS Update Conference is designed for HIV/AIDS education and
At the recent Retroviruses conference (January 30 - February 2 in San Francisco), Dr. Keith Henry told us about his upcoming article, The Case for More Cautious, Patient- Focused Antiretroviral Therapy, which was published in the February 15 ANNALS OF INTERNAL MEDICINE (see A Call for More Cautious Antiretroviral Treat
Abacavir ( Ziagen (R)) is a nucleoside analog used in combination therapy for HIV infection. In about 5% of patients, abacavir causes a hypersensitivity reaction; if this occurs, the drug must be stopped and never rest
Blood tests now coming into use can provide some information about which anti-HIV drugs are unlikely to work for a particular patient, because their virus has become resistant to those drugs. Updated HIV-treatment guidelines now, for the first time, recommend such resistance testing in some cases (see New Guidelines fo
The January 28, 2000 revision of the government GUIDELINES FOR THE USE OF ANTIRETROVIRAL AGENTS IN HIV-INFECTED ADULTS AND ADOLESCENTS is available at http://www.hivatis.org (or to request a copy by mail, call 1-800-448-0440). The guidelines now recommend HIV resistance testing, for some but not all patients. This repo
The FDA has warned physicians and patients that St. John s wort, an herbal treatment often used for depression, should not be combined with certain drugs--including many antiretrovirals. The reason is that St. John s wort speeds up the body s elimination of some drugs, resulting in low blood levels--which can be danger
Keith Henry, M.D., a well-known AIDS physician and the medical director of the HIV Clinic at Regions Hospital in St. Paul, Minnesota, has called for a cautious, patient-focused approach to HIV treatment, in an article published February 15 in ANNALS OF INTERNAL MEDICINE(1). His article, and an accompanying editorial(2)
Threatened cutbacks to the HIV/AIDS outpatient clinic at San Francisco General Hospital appear to have been averted after activists and the press focused sufficient attention on the crisis that local elected officials located a source of stopgap funding, but the hospital--and many others across the nation--face a conti
Some patients in the San Francisco area have stopped receiving testosterone, and perhaps other injectable drugs, for which payment had already been approved. It appeared there was a business dispute between Coram Prescription Services, a home-care service which delivers and injects the drugs, and Brown & Toland Med
A review of the 7th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections will be held Thursday, February 17, 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., at the Sheraton Palace Hotel, 2 New Montgomery Street (at the Montgomery Street BART stop), in San Francisco. Admission is free but persons are asked to RSVP to 415-597-UCSF, or ari@ps
No one major story came out of the 7th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, January 30 - February 2, 2000, in San Francisco. What most caught our attention was found less in the official sessions than in private conversations: the possibility of preventing or treating many of the side effects of ant
Several important deadlines for the XIII International AIDS Conference, July 9-14, 2000, in Durban, South Africa are coming up next week. These include deadlines for abstracts, for NGO booths, and for scholarships. In most cases, the applications can be submitted electronically; in any case, they must arrive by Februar
The latest research and treatment information will be presented at the 7th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, San Francisco, January 30 - February 2. We may delay our next issue in order to cover the conference. The official conference Web site is http://www.retroconference.org; it will have searc
The 2000 National Conference on African Americans and AIDS will take place February 24-25 at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington D.C. There is no fee to register, but advance registration by January 24 is requested; on-site registration cannot be guaranteed. This meeting, the second such national conference, is sponsor
When a healthcare worker is exposed to HIV through a needlestick injury at work, he or she is evaluated for a short course of treatment with AZT and other antiretrovirals; the treatment must begin as soon as possible and certainly within 72 hours, and it is believed to reduce the chance of HIV infection by 80% or more.
On January 5 JAMA (the JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION) published a study by Johns Hopkins researchers, who reviewed charts of 298 patients who were beginning antiretroviral treatment.(1) The major findings were (1) that persons with chronic viral hepatitis (usually hepatitis C
The U.S. and other countries have a major influenza epidemic this year--and the illness can be more dangerous to persons with HIV disease than to the general population. The number of people affected varies greatly by location, and no one can predict where the epidemic will spread, or when. Here are some things you sho
An important new law will help disabled persons return to work without losing medical benefits, and correct some other disincentives to returning to work after being disabled. However, this complex law is not effective yet; different parts will be phased in over the next few years, and some provisions will depend on de
The National Acupuncture Detoxification Association (NADA) will hold its International Conference on Drug and Alcohol Addictions, January 28 and 29, at the Sheraton Hotel at Fisherman s Wharf, 2500 Mason St., San Francisco. This meeting is not HIV specific, but it presents results with a credible and affordable protoco
NUMB TOES AND ACHING SOLES: COPING WITH PERIPHERAL NEUROPATHY, by John A. Senneff, discusses dozens of different treatments which people are using for peripheral neuropathy , a poorly-understood condition causing loss of sensation, weakness, or pain, most often in the feet or hands. Millions of Americans have periphera
At least three activist/community meetings are likely to occur at the occasion of people gathering in San Francisco for the Retroviruses conference (the 7th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, January 30- February 2, 2000, at the San Francisco Marriott). Fortunately, you do *not* need to be registe
A one-hour telephone conference on Metabolic Complications and Body Fat Changes in HIV Disease: An Update, will take place Wednesday, February 9, 5:00 p.m. Pacific time (6:00 p.m. Mountain, 7:00 p.m. Central, 8:00 p.m. Eastern time). This call will outline highlights from a one-day symposium sponsored by
The annual Retroviruses conference, which this year is January 30 - February 2 in San Francisco, is one of the world s most important scientific meetings on AIDS; this year it will also include a session on hepatitis C (HCV) infection. Just after the conference ends, a telephone conference will bring together a panel o
Each January we publish our overview of the AIDS treatment outlook for the coming year. The current picture is unclear; we have heard less scientific news recently, but that does not mean less is happening. Much more will be known after the Retroviruses conference, January 30 - February 2 in San Francisco. (The earlies
This information is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.