An HIV Drug Says Goodbye In a letter sent to doctors late last month, Roche Pharmaceuticals announced that it will be ending the sale and distribution of Hivid® (zalcitabine, also known as ddC), a nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI) originally approved in 1992.
July 26, 2006
Risk Factors Identified in HIV-HCV Steatosis In patients co-infected with HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV), hepatic steatosis is prevalent and associated with nucleoside analogue use, HCV genotype 3 infection and fibrosis, clinicians from Massachusetts and Rhode Island report.
July 24, 2006
I Forgot
Perfect adherence - taking medications as prescribed without missing doses - is considered to be one of the most important factors in terms of reducing the risk of HIV drug resistance and maximizing the life-saving benefits of treatment. But for many HIV-positive people taking daily doses, adherence can be a major challenge.
Growth Hormone Helps Lipo Lipids Restoration of growth hormone levels to normal improves lipid kinetics in patients with HIV lipodystrophy syndrome (HLS), according to a report in the July issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Doctors, Patients Disagree on Resistance Concerns HIV-positive people and their doctors agree that anti-HIV drug resistance is one of the most challenging issues in HIV care today. However, their degree of concern is dramatically different, according to a survey commissioned by the American Academy of HIV Medicine (AAHIVM).
July 17, 2006
Short-Term Treatment Curbs Vertical Transmission In a resource-limited setting, short courses of the nucleoside analogues stavudine, didanosine or zidovudine can help prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV, according to researchers in South Africa.
July 13, 2006
HIV Reservoir Decays Slowly In Children Although there is a rapid drop in HIV levels in infected children after initial highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), further decay is less rapid, according to Italian and UK researchers.
July 12, 2006
One-Pill, Once-Daily Combo Approved Bristol-Myers Squibb and Gilead Sciences announced on July 12 that they have received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance to begin selling Atripla? (pronounced "uh-TRIP-luh"), their long-awaited fixed-dose combination tablet containing Sustiva® (efavirenz) and Truvada® (tenofovir and emtricitabine).
Pregnancy Treatment Guidelines Revised The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has updated its federal guidelines regarding the use of anti-HIV treatment during pregnancy.
July 11, 2006
Thymic Volume Predicts T-cell Drop After HIV Treatment Interruption Assessment of the thymic volume with mediastinal CT is useful in predicting the drop in CD4+ T cells seen in HIV-infected adults during treatment interruption, according to a report in the June issue of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes.
July 07, 2006
Anti-CD4 Antibody Synergistic With Enfuvirtide Against HIV-1 The humanized monoclonal anti-CD4 antibody TNX-355 is synergistic with the fusion inhibitor enfuvirtide (T-20) in blocking HIV-1 entry into target cells in vitro, according to a report in the June issue of Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.
July 06, 2006
T. Gondii Prophylaxis Can Stop After Immune Restoration HIV patients responding to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART)
do not appear to need prophylaxis against Toxoplasma gondii infection,
Spanish researchers report in the July 1st issue of Clinical Infectious
Diseases.
July 05, 2006
New Aptivus Warning: Bleeding in the Brain he U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced on June 30 that it is working with Boehringer Ingelheim, the manufacturer of Aptivus® (tipranavir), to inform healthcare providers about a potentially serious health problem that has been in seen in patients taking the protease inhibitor.
July 04, 2006
Genetic Screening Cuts Abacavir Reactions In a study of HIV-infected patients living in Western Australia,
screening for HLA-B*5701, the major factor implicated in abacavir
hypersensitivity, was useful in preventing the side effect.
July 03, 2006
Europe Approves New Kaletra Abbott Laboratories Inc. said on Monday the European Commission had
approved a new formulation of its HIV protease inhibitor Kaletra
(lopinavir + ritonavir) that will allow patients to take fewer pills
and will not need to be refrigerated.
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