July 2003

Contents

Editorial

• Volume 4 Number 6 July 2003

Antiretrovirals

• T-20 approved in Europe

• Tenofovir European licence extended to include first-line therapy

• FDA approves atazanavir in US – a once daily protease inhibitor

• Atanazavir and saquinavir in salvage therapy: reduced effect on lipids shown in pilot study

• Major change to OPTIMA salvage therapy study in the UK

Treatment access

• Activist anger over US ‘ambush’ of the Global Fund

• $15 billion AIDS bill signed, but full funding shaky

• New GAA report: US and G8 must act fast to rescue Global Fund

• World Health Assembly approves resolution supporting public health considerations in drug policy

• WHO Assembly analysis

• Bill Gates to give $1 million to Brazil’s AIDS programme

• Adherence is not a barrier to successful antiretroviral therapy in South Africa

Women's health

• Is stress associated with CIN progression in HIV-positive women?

Paediatric care

• Risk factors for paediatric HIV malignancies

• TREC analysis shows little thymic damage in HIV-positive adolescents

• Metabolic abnormalities in protease inhibitor-treated and protease naïve children

Diagnostics

• Rapid HIV testing – controversy in the US – and access in the UK

Side effects

• FDA says some follow-up drug studies are never started

• Lamotrigine shows some benefit for HIV-associated painful sensory neuropathies

Lipodystrophy and metabolic complications

• HIV and heart disease: D:A:D prevalence rates show importance of accessing CVD risk in HIV patients

• HAART increases body fat at first; both d4T and AZT lead to subsequent fat loss

• Lipoatrophy improved by switching from d4T to abacavir

Coinfections and complications

• Tobacco use increases risk for pulmonary diseases and weakens response to therapy in patients on HAART

• EBV levels in HIV-positive patients are not reduced by HAART

• The efficacy of fluconazole (Diflucan) 600 mg/day versus itraconazole (Sporanox) 600 mg/day for treatment of cryptococcal meningitis in AIDS patients

Hepatitis coinfection

• Hepatitis A vaccine provides affordable protection in HIV-positive individuals

• PEG-interferon alfa-2b plus ribavirin for treatment of CHC patients who failed or relapsed following interferon-based therapy

• Pegylated interferon plus ribavirin improves fibrosis in non-responders to standard interferon therapy

• Coinfection: Hepatitis coverage from the Digestive Disease Week Conference

TB coinfection

• New antibiotic appears effective against MDR-TB

Basic science and immunology

• T cell activation is associated with decreased CD4+ T cell gains during ARV therapy

• Structured treatment interruptions trial shows no benefit

Vaccines and microbicides

• Vaccine research: Can DNA vaccines get a boost from cytokines?

Other news

• First HIV-positive heart transplant – with two-year successful follow-up

• Drug treatment likely to be based on biased evidence

On the web

• Conferences and workshop abstracts and reports

• Access issues

• Online medical lectures

• Medscape articles

• Newsletters and reports: IAPAC Monthly

• Other news

PDFs

• Volume 4 Number 6 July 2003 PDF