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Egrifta Financial Assistance Programs Are Now Available – Financial assistance programs for Egrifta (tesamorelin), the first drug approved to treat lipodystrophy in people with HIV, are now accepting applications. The patient assistance program will provide Egrifta free to uninsured or under-insured patients who make less than 600 percent of the federal poverty level ($87,520 for a family of two). The co-pay assistance program will provide up to $2,400 per year toward reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses for patients whose insurance covers Egrifta and who are not on Medicare or Medicaid. EMD Serono, which markets Egrifta, has also created the AXIS Center to help educate patients on how to correctly use Egrifta. The AXIS Center will coordinate the Egrifta patient assistance program. For more information, please contact the AXIS Center at 877-714-AXIS (2947). For more information on Egrifta, please see the Egrifta website.

CDC Releases Guidelines For The Use Of Truvada To Prevent HIV Infection – The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has released guidelines on the use of Truvada (emtricitabine/tenofovir) to prevent HIV infection. The guidelines recommend that Truvada be used for prevention only by men who have sex with men and who are at high risk of HIV infection due to multiple partners in areas with high rates of HIV. The guidelines also recommend that people taking Truvada for prevention be tested for HIV before starting the drug and every two to three months after. Truvada should be taken once daily for best results. For more information, please see the article in the San Francisco Chronicle or the CDC guidelines (pdf).

New Clinical Trial In Boston Will Measure The Effects Of Menopause In HIV-Positive Women – A new clinical trial is currently recruiting HIV-positive and HIV-negative women in Boston who are beginning menopause. The goal of the study is determine whether HIV has any effects on menopause and post-menopausal symptoms, such as weight gain and bone loss. Eligible women must be between 45 and 52 years old and perimenopausal, defined as having irregular or absent menstrual periods in the previous three to six months. Women who have not had a menstrual period within the past 12 months or who have taken estrogen, hormone replacement therapy, or hormonal contraceptives within the past six months are not eligible. For more information, please see the United States Clinical Trials Registry.

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Results of a study published this week show that a daily dose of the antiretroviral drug Truvada reduced the risk of acquiring HIV infection by 44 percent in men who have sex with men.

The research may provide HIV-negative men with an additional method for safeguarding themselves from HIV infection. The findings could also be important for men in serodiscordant relationships, in which one partner is HIV positive and the other is HIV negative.

“We now have strong evidence that pre-exposure prophylaxis with an antiretroviral drug, a strategy widely referred…

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FDA Grants Fast-Track Status For Anti-HIV Gel – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted fast-track status for an anti-HIV gel that is designed to protect women from contracting HIV during sexual intercourse. The gel is currently under development by the U.S.-based non-profit CONRAD and contains 1 percent Viread (tenofovir), which is made by Gilead Sciences. Fast track status means that the FDA will accept clinical trial data about the gel’s efficacy and safety on a rolling basis; usually drug developers must collect all the data before submitting it for review. Allowing submission on a rolling basis speeds up the approval process so that a drug is available to the public sooner. Results from a South African clinical trial showed that the preventative gel reduced HIV infections in women by 39 percent over a 2.5 year period. In women who used the gel more than 80 percent of the time, infections were reduced by 54 percent. For more information, please see the CONRAD press release (doc) or the Reuters website.

Study Finds That HIV-Related Health Care Costs An Average Of $20,000 Per Person Annually – Average HIV-related health care costs in the U.S. amounted to nearly $20,000 per HIV-positive person in 2006, according to results from a recent study. Researchers reviewed data from sites across the U.S. that provided HIV care to approximately 14,700 patients. The data was organized according to CD4 (white blood cell) count. Expenses were highest for those who had CD4 counts less than 50 cells per microliter of blood ($40,678 on average) and lowest for those with CD4 counts greater than 500 cells per microliter of blood ($16,614 on average). Most of this money was spent on medications, except for people with low CD4 counts (50 cells per microliter or less) who had larger hospitalization expenses. The researchers concluded that HIV-related health care costs, compared to a decade ago, are still expensive and that costs may increase in the future with improvements in HIV survival rates. For more information, please see the study in AIDS (abstract).

AIDSinfo Provides Live Help Search Services On Its Website – AIDSinfo, a website that helps people search for HIV/AIDS-related clinical trials and provides information on HIV-related research and treatment guidelines, has announced that it will now include a Live Help chat service online. While searching for clinical trials on the website, users will be prompted with a pop-up invitation to chat with an AIDSinfo information specialist who will help them in their search. The Live Help service is available Monday to Friday, from noon to 4 p.m. EST, or by phone at 1-800-HIV-0440 from noon to 5 p.m. EST. For more information, please see the AIDSinfo website.

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On November 30, 2009, the eve of World AIDS Day, the World Health Organization (WHO) released new recommendations on treatment, prevention, and infant feeding with respect to HIV. It is hoped that implementation of these new guidelines will improve the health of HIV-positive individuals, decrease the number of new HIV infections each year, and ultimately, save lives around the world.

“These new recommendations are based on the most up to date, available data,” said Dr. Hiroki Nakatani, WHO Assistant Director General for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB), Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases,…

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A new Phase 2b clinical trial will study the effectiveness of antiretroviral vaginal gels and oral tablets in preventing HIV infection in women.

The Vaginal and Oral Interventions to Control the Epidemic (VOICE) study will test the safety and efficacy of two different HIV prevention methods. The gel contains Viread (tenofovir), and the oral tablets contain Viread or Truvada (emtricitabine/tenofovir).

For the first time, participants will be able to apply the gel at any time throughout the day. This makes the gel easier to use and offers greater privacy than…