Fwd: 2009 Pipeline Report, Dispatch from IAS and more...

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The Pipeline Report is great for those of you who want to see what is coming up in new HIV medications

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2009 Pipeline Report, Dispatch from IAS and more...

TAG's e-Newsletter

August, 10 2009

20

AIDS Is Not In Recession!

At

the Fifth International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Pathogenesis,

Treatment and Prevention in Cape Town, South Africa, this year, the

AIDS Rights Alliance for South Africa (ARASA) won hands down for the

most clever and effective advocacy campaign by handing out fake

currency with international heads of state in denominations that

reflect gross misuse of funds. A $250,000 currency note pictured

Zimbabwe president Mugabe enjoying his quarter-million-dollar

85th birthday party—a dollar amount that happens to be the rough

equivalent of the cost of 10,500 courses of tubercu

losis treatment.

ARASA’s video on YouTube, Lords of the Bling, Volume 1, is a barbed

portrayal of the abysmal failure of African heads of state to meet

their commitments in the Abuja Declaration to increase health spending

to 15% of the national budget of each leader’s country. Read the entire article ....

Watch the Video - Sign the Petition

Download the entire issue

Treating Earlier Saves Lives—But Treating Everyone Could End the Epidemic

At the International AIDS Conference in Durban, South

Africa, in 2000, when the movement to provide universal access to

antiretroviral treatment for people with HIV around the world began in

earnest, guidelines for the standard-of-care treatment of people with

HIV were similar everywhere: begin therapy when CD4 counts fall near or

below 200 and use a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor

(NNRTI) or protease inhibitor with two nucleoside RT inhibitors (NRTIs)

such as stavudine and lamivudine. Subsequently, treatment guidelines

have diverged. While stavudine is no longer recommended in the United

States and other northern countries due to toxicity concerns, as the

lowest priced antiretroviral (ARV) dr

ug available in a generic form it

remains a staple of regimens in the developing world. And though

initiating therapy is now generally recommended once CD4 cell counts

reach 350, this standard has been implemented in few African

countries. Read the entire article...

TAG Collaboration Changes Updated Hepatitis C Treatment Guidelines

In April 2009, the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) published updated Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) Practice Guidelines.

The Practice Guidelines are a useful and influential tool for busy

clinicians, who are often unable

to wade through tall stacks of

research papers to discover the standard of care for diagnosis,

management and treatment of HCV. Hepatitis C is rampant among current

and former injection drug users, since it is transmitted by direct

blood-to-blood contact. Untreated hepatitis C leads to cirrhosis in

20-30% of cases. HCV treatment, when successful, can eradicate the

virus and halt progression to cirrhosis, liver cancer and liver

failure. Unfortunately, HCV treatment is often withheld from current

and former drug users, despite medical need, stability and willingness

to undergo it, and NIH guidelines recommending HCV treatment decisions

on a case-by-case basis since 2002. However, the field has continued to

lean towards restricting, not broadening HCV treatment access, despite

mounting evidence that current and former drug users can be safely and

effectively treated. Read the entire article...

Tell20Us Your HIV and Health Care Story TODAY!

Individual Storied Needed to Advocate for Effective Federal Health Care Reform!

The AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC) is working in

collaboration with AIDS organizations across the country to collect

individual health care stories from people living with HIV/AIDS.

Personal anecdotes, like your own, will help us advocate with Congress

and President Obama for the strongest health care provisions possible.

Featuring such stories in the media can also help influence public

opinion and strengthen demand for affordable, high-quality,

insurance options, including a much needed public plan. No one's name

or identifying information will be used in advocacy or in media without

first obtaining the individual’s written permission.

Your story can make the difference: Tell your story today!

For more infor

mation about this effort please contact AFC Policy

Manager Terlikowski at jterlikowski@...

Study Uncovers Sex Differences in Immune Activation

There is a large body of

evidence showing that innate and adaptive immune responses can differ

in women and men, but the reasons for these differences are only partly

understood (as reviewed recently in Nature Reviews Immunology).

In HIV infection, it has been reported that average viral loads in

early infection are lower in women than men, but women face a 1.6-fold higher risk of developing AIDS compared to men with the same viral load. Read the entire blog entry...

Immune Surveillance Below the Radar: Study Offers Explanation for Acyclovir’s Failure to Reduce HIV Risk

In a recent post on the Merck vaccine trial,

I mentioned a new study from Larry Corey’s research group addressing

the relationship between HSV-2 infection and enhanced susceptibility to

HIV. The data were presented by Dr. Corey at the Keystone conference in

March and were published online by Nature Medicine yesterday. The

background to the work is that HSV-2 infection has been consistently

associated with a 2 to 3-fold increased risk of acquiring HIV; a meta-analysis published in 2006

reported a relative risk of 3.1, 2.7 and 1.7 for women, heterosexual

men and men who have sex with men, respectively. Recently analyzed data

from the Merck vaccine trial are consistent with these findings in that

HSV-2-infected participants were found to have approximately double the

risk of acquiring HIV infection during the study. Read the entire blog entry...

For useful links to HIV science, treatment and prevention resources on the web, visit our Resource Page

The 2009 Pipeline Report

TAG’s Annual Review of What’s New

TAG’s

annual pipeline report for 2009 was distributed in July at the Fifth

International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment

and Prevention in Cape Town, South Africa, where eager attendees

snatched up 2,000 copies during the three-day meeting. The 90-page

booklet is popular because it provides an easy-to-read overview of

drugs, vaccines, and diagnostics that are being developed for HIV,

viral hepatitis, and tuberculosis.

20

Other Publications:

Guide to Hepatitis B for people living with HIV - Available in English and Spanish

Guide to Hepatitis C for people living with HIV - Available in English, Spanish and Russian

Ben Thornberry, Activist Photographs Black and white photographs, 1988

Each

year, at its annual Research in Action Awards, TAG presents a new,

limited edition artwork, generously donated by a highly regarded visual

=2

0 artist.

Contributing artists have included Yamaoka, Armstrong, Renaldi, and Ben Thornberry.

For information about purchasing one of these works, please contact TAG at 212.253.7922.

Join the American Express GivingExpress Program

If you are an American Express cardholder, you can elect to have a

regular donation sent to TAG automatically charged to your American

Express card. Find out more about this program by calling the American

Express customer service number on the back of your card, or visit www.americanexpress.com

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