PI Perspective 33 -- August 2001
- Past_Present_and_Future@20 Years
- June of 2001 marked the 20th anniversary of the first official report that a deadly new illness was showing up in young young men. All those initially reported were gay men suffering from a previously unseen form of severe immune deficiency.
- 20 years In Memory of . . .
- We dedicate this issue of the PI Perspective to:. . . .
- Drug Level Monitoring: The Next Advance in Diagnostics
- The past few years have brought major advances in the treatment and management of people with HIV. In many of the early trials for HIV-positive people, different blood markers were studied to determine whether they might be beneficial in monitoring the health of people with HIV and whether they might be able to predict the risk of disease progression. Many were deemed not useful including beta-2 microglobulin, neopterin and p24 antigen.
- Women and AIDS at Twenty
- AIDS, first reported in women in 1981, has decidedly become a major concern for women and girls. Early misconceptions about women's perceived lack of HIV risk and the characterization of AIDS as a disease primarily affecting gay men thwarted attention afforded to women's issues early in the epidemic.
- New Peg-interferon Results
- Encouraging results were recently presented of the pegylated interferon products used in the treatment of hepatitis C (HCV). Pegylated interferon is a form of interferon to which polyethylene glycol (PEG) has been added. Adding PEG stabilizes interferon in the body and helps sustain a more even and long lasting level of the drug.
- Time to Get Involved, Again
- The federal government's response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States has improved greatly over the past 20 years although there are still many challenges. In the earliest years, it was often hard enough simply to have key policymakers utter the word "AIDS" and acknowledge that there was a problem.
PI Perspective 32 -- March 2001
- When to Start Treatment
- New findings presented at this year's Conference on Human Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections were overshadowed by public discussion of a change in the US Guidelines on the Use of Antiretroviral Therapies.
- Anti-HIV Therapy Update
- Several new anti-HIV therapies have recently entered human studies. Most of these drugs belong to the currently existing classes of therapies (i.e. protease inhibitors or non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors).
- New Formulation of ddI Approved
- After numerous failed attempts at developing a new formulation of ddI (Videx), Bristol-Myers Squibb has finally secured Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for a new version of the drug.
- Caution: Garlic supplements
- A recent study shows that garlic supplements decrease saquinavir (Fortovase) levels by an average of 51% and are therefore likely to greatly reduce saquinavir's anti-HIV activity. This can lead to the rapid development of resistance to saquinavir.
- Gilead Provides Expanded Access Program for Tenofovir
- Gilead Sciences, the developers of a new nucleotide analogue, tenofovir (PMPA), started a small expanded access program in January.
- Head-to-Head Study of Two Protease Inhibitors
- Results from a study comparing the recently approved protease inhibitor lopinavir (Kaletra) to nelfinavir (Viracept) as first line therapy were reported at a major International AIDS conference in Glasgow, Scotland. Lopinavir includes a new protease inhibitor along with a small dose of ritonavir in a single capsule.
- Cidofovir
- Results from an Italian study suggest that cidofovir (Vistide) may be useful for people with progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML). PML is a relatively rare disease in people living with HIV, affecting the brain. It is caused by a virus, called the JC virus. Most adults (about 80%) are exposed to this virus but it usually only causes disease in people with very low CD4+ cell counts. In rare circumstances, PML can occur in people with higher CD4+ cell counts (e.g. above 200).
- Making Decisions About Therapies
- Making treatment decisions can feel overwhelming. Developing a personal plan to help you think about, plan for and make decisions can help. It's important that your plan is one you're comfortable with and feel empowered by. This article summarizes issues to consider as you develop your own decision-making plan.
This information is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.©1980, 2001. AEGiS.