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…

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last week announced the addition of updated drug interaction information to the prescribing information of all currently approved HIV protease inhibitors.

Protease inhibitors are a class of antiretroviral drugs that prevent HIV from replicating by blocking a necessary protein called protease.

Drugs in this class include Aptivus (tipranavir), Crixivan (indinavir), Invirase (saquinavir mesylate), Kaletra (lopinavir/ritonavir), Lexiva (fosamprenavir), Norvir (ritonavir), Prezista (darunavir), Reyataz (atazanavir), and Viracept (nelfinavir).

Although some of the drug interactions had been known for specific protease inhibitors, the added information…

Last week, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), a Los Angeles-based advocacy and treatment organization, sent a letter to Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) officials, pressing them to reduce the price of their AIDS drug Reyataz (atazanavir).

In its letter to BMS, AHF urged that AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPs) nationwide should receive the drug at a price similar to prices of first-line antiretroviral drugs like Viread (tenofovir) and Sustiva (efavirenz).

ADAPs throughout the United States aim to provide AIDS drugs like Reyataz to low-income people in need. This aim, however, is becoming…