The big story over the last month has been the ritonavir 400% “price hike” from Abbott in the US, which has provoked fury from activists and doctors alike. Although current prices will not increase for the moment in Europe the longer term implications are unclear at this stage, and it’s feared that things do not bode well for the cost of treatment and therefore treatment options.

An additional blow to salvage patients was the announcement from Roche that development of T-1249 has been suspended which will be particularly disappointing for those who have already developed resistance to T-20.

Good news though was the triumphant announcement by the treatment Action Campaign (TAC) that GSK and Boehringer have agreed to grant licences to generic companies to produce or distribute AZT, 3TC and nevirapine to sub-Saharan African countries in exchange for minimum royalties (see page 10)

Our next April issue of HTB will include extensive coverage of the 11th Conference of Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI), held from 8-11th February in San Francisco. Abstracts from this meeting should be available on the conference website from the first week of February. Webcasts from many of the lectures should also be made available shortly after they have been presented.

http://www.retroconference.org