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President Obama Allocates An Additional $35 Million Toward ADAPs – In a speech on December 1, World AIDS Day, President Obama announced that the federal government will contribute an additional $35 million to state AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPs). The programs, which provide free antiretrovirals to low-income people with HIV, have faced budget shortfalls due to the economic crisis, forcing many states to tighten eligibility requirements and implement waiting lists. President Obama also allocated an additional $15 million toward HIV clinics and treatment centers. According to government officials, the funds represent a reallocation of existing Department of Health and Human Services funds rather than additional money. For more information, please see the Associated Press article.

Phase 3 Trial Results Show Gilead’s Investigational Booster Cobicistat Is Effective And Safe – Interim 48-week results from an ongoing Phase 3 clinical trial show that Gilead Science’s investigational boosting agent cobicistat is as effective as Norvir (ritonavir). Boosting agents are drugs that allow patients to take medications less often without losing efficacy. Results showed that 85 percent of previously untreated adults with HIV who took cobicistat-boosted Reyataz (atazanavir) plus Truvada (emtricitabine/tenofovir) successfully achieved undetectable viral loads (amount of HIV in the blood), compared to 87 percent of study participants taking Norvir-boosted Reyataz plus Truvada. Discontinuation rates due to side effects were similar between the two groups of participants. Based on the results, Gilead stated that it would apply for approval of cobicistat from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in the second quarter of 2012. For more information, please see the Gilead Sciences press release.

Supreme Court To Decide On Government Liability For Breaches Of HIV Privacy – Justices for the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments this week on whether the federal government can be held liable for emotional distress when it illegally discloses a person’s HIV status. The government was sued by an HIV-positive pilot whose status was disclosed to officials at the Federal Aviation Administration by officials in the Social Security Administration, violating medical privacy laws. The government argues that it is only responsible for damages due to economic losses from such violations, not emotional distress. For more information, please see the article in the Los Angeles Times.

Merck Initiates Anti-Stigma Initiative For People With HIV And Their Clinicians – U.S. pharmaceutical company Merck has announced a new anti-stigma initiative to improve health care and communication between people with HIV and their clinicians. The program, called Clinic Activation to Lead and Implement Best Practices for Enhancing Response to HIV (CALIBER), includes a website with a discussion guide on dealing with and reducing stigma related to HIV and an expert panel of physicians to help answer stigma-related questions. For more information, please see the Merck press release (pdf) or the CALIBER website.

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EMA Approves Victrelis For Hepatitis C In Europe – The European Medicines Agency (EMA), which provides marketing authorization for drugs for the European Union, announced this week the approval of Victrelis (boceprevir) for the treatment of hepatitis C in people who are previously untreated or who failed treatment in the past. Victrelis, marketed by U.S. pharmaceutical company Merck (known as MSD outside the U.S.), was approved for use in combination with the current standard hepatitis C treatment, peginterferon alfa (PegIntron or Pegasys) plus ribavirin (Copegus, Rebetol). Victrelis received approval in the U.S. in May, along with Incivek (telaprevir), a second new hepatitis C treatment in the same drug class. For more information, please see the Merck press release.

Government Creates New Website To Fight Discrimination Against People With HIV – The Department of Justice has created a new website to help fight discrimination against people with HIV and AIDS, which is illegal under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The website provides information about HIV’s coverage under the ADA and instructions on how to file a complaint, as well as information on past legal settlements against companies found guilty of discrimination. The ADA prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in employment, education, healthcare, and housing, among others. For more information, please see the Department of Justice’s ADA AIDS website.

New Jersey Will Implement Medical Marijuana Program – New Jersey governor Chris Christie announced yesterday that he will lift the suspension on the state’s plans to dispense medical marijuana. The governor last month delayed implementing the law to request assurance from the federal government that it would not prosecute state officials for dispensing the drug. However, despite not receiving such assurances, Governor Christie said yesterday that the state can move forward with its plans. Governors of several states have reassessed medical marijuana laws in light of recent letters from the U.S. government threatening to prosecute state employees under federal drug laws (see related AIDS Beacon news). Marijuana is not legal under federal laws, although several states have legalized it for medicinal use. For more information, please see the article in Bloomberg.

Armenia Lifts HIV Travel Ban – Armenia last week became the latest country to lift its ban restricting people with HIV from entering the country. Namibia, China, South Korea, and the U.S. have all lifted travel bans since 2010, although restrictions remain in 48 countries, territories, or areas worldwide. The United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) praised the move, stating that travel bans are discriminatory and have no health or economic justifications. For more information, please see the UNAIDS press release.

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Several studies presented at the 2010 International AIDS Conference found that being HIV positive does not affect measures of overall life satisfaction or the ability to have a normal working life.

Prior research has suggested that stigma and health problems related to being HIV-positive can have a significant impact on various aspects of an individual’s lifestyle, including quality of life and employment.

However, newer treatment regimens, such as highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), offer people with HIV a more normal lifestyle and health status. As a result, researchers have been…

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A recent study published in Journal of General Internal Medicine found that HIV-infected individuals living with feelings of stigmatization have inadequate access to care or poor adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART).

This is one of the few studies conducted to analyze the correlation between HIV stigma and self-reported access to care, regular source of HIV care, and ART adherence, as well as the effect of mental health in these correlations.

The study was conducted on 202 HIV-positive men and women in Los Angeles County, many of which were minorities and…