November 2003

Contents

Editorial

• Volume 4 Number 9 November 2003

Treatment alerts

• Important safety information: high rate of virologic failure in patients with HIV infection treated with a once-daily triple NRTI combination containing ddI, 3TC, and tenofovir DF

Conference reports

• 13th International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA), 21-26 September 2003, Nairobi

• STIs in resource limited settings

• 43rd Annual Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC), 14-17 September 2003, Chicago

• ddI may retain activity in nucleoside experienced patients

• Studies and strategies with existing drugs

• Incremental progress with new antiviral drugs

• Newer nucleoside analogues show fewer adverse effects

Antiretrovirals

• Atazanavir ‘named-patient’ access extended in the UK and includes 150mg capsule

• Another triple nuke failure: abacavir/ddI/d4T

• FDA announces changes to ritonavir package insert

Treatment strategies

• Treatment interruption prior to five-drug regime shows no benefit at 48 weeks

• Failure of alternating week-on and week-off therapy

Treatment access

• Global AIDS spending must double by 2005, says gloomy UN

• GARPP requests permission from Boehringer to import generic nevirapine

• Canada decides to lead the way in exempting AIDS drugs from patent laws

Women's health

• Antiviral dynamics and sex differences of AZT and 3TC triphosphate concentrations

• Women have a greater immunological response to effective HAART

Pregnancy

• Use of rapid HIV tests in labour

• Eighteen-month findings of HIVNET 012

Paediatric care

• Rituximab as single agent reversed paediatric Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma (NHL)

• Perinatal antiretroviral treatment and haematopoiesis in HIV-uninfected infants

PK and drug interactions

• Interaction between amprenavir and lopinavir thwarts triple PI salvage

• Vitamin C induces P4503A4 and reduces indinavir levels

• Indinavir levels reduced by omeprazole

• Boosted saquinavir PK in once-daily regimes

• Tenofovir drug-drug interactions

• Summary of other PK studies

Lipodystrophy and metabolic complications

• Canadian study shows increased interventional cardiovascular procedures associated with HAART

Coinfections and complications

• Valacyclovir is effective prophylaxis against herpes simplex

Hepatitis coinfection

• Coinfected patients may require longer HCV treatment, irrespective of genotype

Other news

• New recommended standards of care for NHS services

• Vatican says HIV can pass through condoms

On the web

• Conferences

• Newsletters and reports

• HIV and hepatitis coinfection

PDFs

• Volume 4 Number 9 November 2003 PDF