Articles tagged with: cholesterol
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FDA Updates Prescribing Information For Viracept To Warn Of Drug Interactions With Warfarin – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced last week that it has approved updated prescribing information for Viracept (nelfinavir) to warn of possible interactions with the anti-clotting drug warfarin (Coumadin). According to the FDA, Viracept can increase the concentration of warfarin in the blood. The FDA recommends that if the two drugs are prescribed at the same time, medical providers should carefully monitor the international normalized ratio, a measure of blood clotting ability that is used to adjust warfarin dosages. For more information, please see the FDA website.
FDA Approves Fingerstick Test For Hepatitis C Infection – The FDA approved a more convenient method of testing for hepatitis C infection. OraQuick HCV Rapid Antibody Test can now be used with a fingerstick blood sample. This test is the first to use a fingerstick rather than a drawn blood sample to detect hepatitis C virus (HCV), and it gives a result in approximately 20 minutes. The test is made by Pennsylvania-based OraSure Technologies and is marketed in the U.S. in collaboration with Merck. HCV is estimated to infect a quarter to a third of people with HIV, and physicians usually recommend that people with HIV be tested for HCV infection. For more information, please see the OraSure Technologies press release.
Phase 4 Clinical Trial Will Test Livalo Versus Pravachol In HIV-Positive Adults With High Cholesterol – A 12-week clinical trial is currently recruiting participants to test the efficacy of Livalo (pitavastatin) versus Pravachol (pravastatin) to treat high cholesterol in people with HIV. Participants will receive either 4 mg of Livalo or 40 mg of Pravachol once daily for 12 weeks and then will be monitored for drug safety and side effects for an additional 40 weeks. Eligible participants must be HIV-positive adults between 18 and 70 years of age. For more information, please see the U.S. Clinical Trials Registry.
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Results of a new study suggest that the cholesterol-lowering drugs Crestor and Lipitor may be more effective than Pravachol for treating high cholesterol and its related diseases in people with HIV.
The authors also propose that Crestor might be a particularly good choice for people taking non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors, given its effectiveness and lack of known interactions with these antiretroviral medications.
However, they also noted that a third of study participants did not succeed in lowering their cholesterol to recommended levels, indicating that more aggressive treatment or use of…
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A new review finds that progress has been made in understanding and treating fat redistribution and other metabolic problems in people with HIV, but more research is necessary to understand the biology involved and the best treatment options. The review suggests that combining multiple treatment strategies may offer more successful options for combating these antiretroviral side effects.
Although highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) slows HIV disease progression and has helped prevent HIV-related deaths, its use can lead to a number of undesirable side effects, such as weight gain, high cholesterol…
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Results of a new study indicate that metabolic abnormalities, such as high cholesterol and pre-diabetes, are common in HIV-positive teens and young adults and may be related to long-term use of certain antiretroviral drugs.
The authors suggested that doctors carefully consider long-term side effects when deciding on antiretroviral therapy regimens for HIV-positive children.
Previous studies have shown that antiretroviral therapy in adults is associated with long-term side effects, such as insulin resistance, diabetes, heart disease, abnormal distribution of body fat, and chronic kidney disease (see related AIDS Beacon news).…
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Researchers presented several studies at the International AIDS Conference that examined the role of antiretroviral drugs in the development of heart problems in people with HIV. Results from two large studies indicated that other factors play a larger role in determining heart attack risk than taking antiretroviral medications.
Heart disease is the number one cause of death for both men and women in the United States. Some studies have estimated that heart disease causes as many as a fifth of all deaths in people with HIV.
Some previous studies have…