June 2020

Contents

Editorial

• HIV and COVID-19: issue 5 (26 June 2020) (HTB no 8)

• HIV and COVID-19: issue 4 (1 June 2020)

In memory

• Dr Ron Simmons. Activist. Teacher. Mentor. Organiser. Leader. Survivor. Black gay icon.

• Larry Kramer, playwright, AIDS activist and writer  (1935-2020)

Conference reports

• 23rd International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2020)

Antiretrovirals

• FDA approves dolutegravir formulations to treat infants and young children

HIV prevention and transmission

• Cabotegravir long-acting injections prevent HIV as PrEP

COVID-19: HIV and COVID-19 coinfection

• Latest studies on HIV/COVID-19 coinfection

• HIV positive people in South Africa at increased risk of dying from COVID-19: first data from country with high prevalence of HIV and TB

• Update on Western Cape data: people with HIV have small increased risks from COVID-19

• HIV and COVID-19 coinfection: case reports, retrospective cohorts and outcomes

COVID-19: treatment access

• UK access to remdesivir approved: but MHRA criteria exclude some who could benefit

• EMA recommends expanding access to remdesivir

COVID-19: investigational drugs

• Dexamethasone significantly reduces mortality in subset of patients hospitalised with advanced COVID-19: UK RECOVERY study

• Modelling paper suggests hydroxychloroquine dosing was too low to be active against COVID-19 and that higher doses would risk toxicity

• FDA contraindication for remdesivir and hydroxychloroquine (HCQ): immediate impact on current HCQ research

• UK RECOVERY study stops hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) for COVID-19: more than 1100 deaths question ethics and safety overall

• SIMPLE study reports benefit from 5-day but not 10-day remdesivir on moderate COVID-19

• Recent papers on convalescent plasma and on ACE inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers

• Remdesivir improves recovery time in early COVID-19 infection: first definitive results of benefit

• Convalescent plasma therapy for COVID-19

• Treatment with interferon in early COVID-19

• Famotidine associated with improved clinical outcomes in people hospitalised with COVID-19

• Tocilizumab and remdesivir in new dual therapy study

• RETRACTED – Re: No benefit from hydroxychloroquine, with or without macrolide antibiotics in analysis of 96,000 participants

COVID-19: pathogenesis

• Changes in taste and smell as symptoms of COVID-19

• Low CD4s and CD8s – but not viral genetics – predict COVID-19 progression

• Autopsies show how COVID-19 damages lungs more than flu

COVID-19: guidelines

• BHIVA/THT updated guidelines for social distancing in the UK

• BHIVA advice for HIV positive people hospitalised with COVID-19

• BHIVA guidelines on shielding: advice for HIV clinicians, GPs and people living with HIV

• European consensus on HIV and COVID-19: UK (BHIVA), European (EACS), Spanish, German and Polish HIV organisations

• UK guidelines for the treatment of COVID-19: UK prioritises 42 studies

COVID-19: transmission & prevention

• Two PEP studies report no benefit of hydroxychloroquine for preventing CoV-2 infection

COVID-19: on the web

• Independent SAGE: UK COVID-19 policy responses

• COVID-19 harm reduction programmes in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia

PDFs

• HIV and COVID-19 bulletin no 5 (26 June 2020)

• HIV and COVID-19 bulletin no 4 (1 June 2020)