The AIDS Beacon™

Panel members debated the pros and cons of starting early Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) in a discussion last week at the International AIDS Conference in Vienna, Austria.

Previous guidelines advised patients to begin HAART after the onset of AIDS symptoms or when their CD4 (white blood cell) count dropped below 200 cells per milliliter.

In 2009, however, the World Health Organization released new guidelines recommending that treatment start when CD4 counts drop to 350 cells per milliliter. Proponents argued that this number better protects patients from long-term immune system…

Researchers presented several studies last week at the 2010 International AIDS Conference that focused on the relationship between HIV and aging.

Some of the studies found that HIV-related diseases and complications, such as osteoporosis, heart problems, and sexual dysfunction, are more prevalent in older adults with HIV.

However, several studies also showed positive results, including unexpected data showing HIV may not cause faster immune system and brain decline with age. Additional studies showed the benefits of exercise and strength training and the effectiveness of Selzentry (maraviroc) in older patients with…

A study published online last month in the journal The Lancet announced that HIV-positive individuals who used antiretroviral therapy (ART) reduced the risk of transmitting HIV to their uninfected partners by 92 percent.

“These observational data strongly support the hypothesis that ART substantially reduces HIV-1 infectiousness and transmission risk,” wrote the authors.

Over 3,400 couples from seven different African countries were included in the study. In each case one partner was HIV-positive and the other HIV negative, known as serodiscordance.

Although previous studies have shown that ART can reduce the…

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) released new guidelines last week regarding treatment for pregnant HIV-positive women and prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

The guidelines include updates on preferred regimens for prevention of HIV transmission during pregnancy.

According to the report, fewer than 200 children are now born with HIV in the United States each year, as a result of efforts to limit mother-to-child transmission.

Transmission of HIV from a pregnant woman to her baby can occur during pregnancy, labor, or while breastfeeding after the baby is born. To…

In a 16-0 vote yesterday, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee recommended that the drug tesamorelin be approved for the treatment of HIV-associated lipodystrophy.

Although the FDA is not required to follow the recommendations of its advisory committees, it usually does.

Tesamorelin is being developed by Montreal-based Theratechnologies Inc. If approved, the drug would be marketed in the United States by EMD Serono, a unit of the German pharmaceutical company Merck KGaA. The proposed brand name for tesamorelin is Egrifta.

“I think that it’s a good day for us and I think that…

An expert advisory committee of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) voted unanimously today to recommend approval of tesamorelin.

Tesamorelin, also known by its proposed brand name Egrifta, is being reviewed by the FDA as a potential treatement for HIV-associated lipodystrophy, an excess accumulation of abdominal fat that is a frequent side effect of antiretroviral therapy. 

Tesamorelin has been developed by the Montreal-based biopharmaceutical company Theratechnologies.  If approved by the FDA as a treatment for lipodystrophy, the drug would be marketed in the U.S. by EMD Serono, a unit of the German pharmaceutical company Merck…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will hold an advisory committee meeting today in regard to the new drug application for tesamorelin (proposed brand name: Egrifta).  The AIDS Beacon will be providing live updates on the meeting as it progresses.

The Montreal-based biopharmaceutical company Theratechnologies is seeking FDA approval to market tesamorelin as a treatment for HIV-associated lipodystrophy, an excess accumulation of abdominal fat that is a frequent side effect of antiretroviral therapy.

During its meeting today, the FDA’s Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee will review data…

The latest quarterly update on HIV and mental health from Mental Health AIDS includes results from recent research and resources for finding the latest information related to clinical practice. The report is divided into several sections related to prevention, assessment, and treatment, each of which presents several recent research topics and their results.

HIV Prevention News

To explore the relationship between mental health and HIV among young women, researchers examined more closely the link between HIV-related stigma and risk behavior in 147 young HIV positive women.

The researchers found that…

A recent study showed that interleukin-2 (IL-2), a signaling molecule that stimulates growth of disease-fighting blood cells in the immune system, induces a significant increase in the number of CD4 immune cells during early HIV infection of patients.

However, IL-2 therapy was associated with a higher rate of opportunistic infections, which take advantage of weaknesses in the immune system, and death compared to no treatment. The study was published in the journal PLoS One.

The addition of short courses of antiretroviral therapy (ART) to the IL-2 treatment did not further…

According to a recently released study in the Clinical Infectious Diseases Journal, once-daily administration of antiretroviral treatment is just as effective as twice-daily administration.

Researchers compared the efficacy of both types of treatment regimens by studying HIV positive patients who had not undergone previous drug therapy.

Patients were randomly separated into two groups; both received Kaletra (lopinavir/ritonavir). The first group received 400 mg of lopinavir and 100 mg of ritonavir twice a day, while the second group received 800 mg of lopinavir and 200 mg of ritonavir once a day. …