AIDS News
Here is the latest news related to AIDS.
Every spring since 2007, Native communities nationwide have celebrated National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. This Saturday, March 20, 2010, marks the fourth annual celebration of its kind.
National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day was started to bring attention to Native communities that were affected by HIV and AIDS. This includes Native Americans, Alaskan Natives, and Native Hawaiians.
It is a day meant to educate Natives and others about prevention, benefits of early testing, and treatment options.
From the beginning of the AIDS epidemic through 2007, nearly 3500 American Indians and Alaskan…
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently updated the prescribing label of HIV drug Intelence (etravirine) to include new drug-drug interaction information between Intelence and the following drugs: fluconazole (Diflucan), Vfend (voriconazole), Kaletra (lopinavir/ritonavir), and Plavix (clopidogrel).
Intelence is a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor manufactured by Tibotec Therapeutics. It is approved for use in HIV patients who are treatment experienced and have developed resistance to other HIV drugs.
Fluconazole and Vfend are medications used for treating and preventing fungal infections. Data indicate that administering Intelence and fluconazole or Vfend together can…
A recent fundraising initiative announced by the Millennium Foundation for Innovative Finance for Health has developed a novel method to raise funds for HIV and AIDS.
The program, entitled Massive Good, allows people to donate two dollars each time they purchase travel services, such as a plane ticket. This mechanism is called Voluntary Solidarity Contribution (VSC). During the VSC, an individual checks off a box during a commercial transaction, which simply adds two dollars to the final cost of the purchase.
Initial data suggest that Massive Good will raise approximately $1 billion…
Kenn Chaplin is a 50 year old Toronto blogger and former radio news reporter who has lived with HIV for over 20 years. He was first diagnosed as HIV-positive in May 1989.
“I think I was kind of numb at first – suspicious that I might be positive, but hardly prepared to be given the news,” he said of his initial diagnosis.
Unfortunately, it was not his family’s first experience with HIV. Chaplin’s brother Craig was also diagnosed as HIV-positive prior to Chaplin.
“I was, and still am, part of some large support…
Tesamorelin, a growth hormone-releasing compound, successfully reduced abdominal fat in HIV-positive subjects by approximately 18 percent, according to a new study published in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes (JAIDS).
Excess abdominal fat accumulation, also called lipohypertrophy, is one of the potential side effects of antiretroviral therapy (ART). Tesamorelin, a new drug candidate, may be able to counteract this common problem among HIV patients.
The clinical trial took place over 12 months among 404 HIV-positive individuals with excess abdominal fat as a result of ART. Some patients were given a placebo,…