A new delivery system could make a once-a-week HIV medication a reality in the next few years.
The research, published in Nature Communications, was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Patients would take a capsule that, once it reaches the stomach, would unfold into a star-shaped structure that would release medicine over the course of seven days.
The star-structure would eventually dissolve and pass through the body.
While at present some slow release drugs are available to be delivered via injection, most HIV meds are taken on a daily basis.
After testing on pigs, the next step will be to try the approach on larger mammals and then hopefully human testing within two years.
Convenience is a big factor in the new technology.
Giovanni Traverso, a researcher from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, says “Changing a medication so it only needs to be taken once a week rather than once a day should be more convenient and improve compliance.”
Back in June of this year, six members of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) resigned over Donald Trump’s inaction on the issue of HIV/AIDS.
In part, the resignations were based on Trump’s failure to appoint a chief to oversee White House policy on HIV/AIDS. Additionally, council members were appalled at policies and budget cuts to programs that address HIV/AIDS.
According to Newsweek, the Trump administration has now fired the remaining 16 PACHA members without any explanation.
Scott A. Schoettes, a Chicago-based HIV/AIDS activist and one of the members of the advisory panel who resigned over the summer, tweeted yesterday that the remaining council members had been fired for calling President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence “dangerous.”
“Remaining #HIV/AIDS council members booted by @realDonaldTrump. No respect for their service,” Schoettes wrote on the social media site. “Dangerous that #Trump and Co. (Pence esp.) are eliminating few remaining people willing to push back against harmful policies, like abstinence-only sex ed,” he added.
Gabriel Maldonado, CEO of the LGBT and HIV/AIDS group Truevolution and a remaining member of PACHA said the reasons for the firings remain unclear but may have been borne of a desire by the Trump administration to clear out appointments made by his predecessor Barack Obama.
“I can only speculate,” Maldonado said. “Like any administration, they want their own people there. Many of us were Obama appointees. I was an Obama appointee and my term was continuing until 2018.”
You’ll recall Trump told campaign rally attendees that he would be “better for the gays than Hillary Clinton.” #MyAss
If you want to really understand Trump’s opinion of LGBTs, remember this move comes less than a week after it was revealed that Trump reportedly asserted “they all have AIDS” in reference to 15,000 Haitians who were granted visas to enter the U.S. in the first half of 2017.
Remaining #HIV/AIDS council members booted by @realDonaldTrump. No respect for their service. Dangerous that #Trump and Co. (Pence esp.) are eliminating few remaining people willing to push back against harmful policies, like abstinence-only sex ed. #WeObject#PACHA6#Resist
.@realDonaldTrump executing a purge: remaking the courts; ppl who use “transgender” and “vulnerable” out at HHS; #PACHA (#HIV council) members gone; wants to eliminate ppl @ FBI who didn’t vote for him; attempts to undermine free press. #Fascist#TrumpRussia#WeObject#Resist
With today being World AIDS Day, I thought I’d take a virtual stroll over to WhiteHouse.gov to see what Donald Trump’s Office of AIDS Policy had to say.
Check out the screen capture from the site’s page just minutes ago.
• Andrew Serkin (above) handles the cold in Miami with a stylish vest sans shirt. I’m good with that 🙂
• Washington Blade reporter Chris Johnson was not extended an invitation to the White House’s annual Christmas party this year. Johnson attends the White House press briefings almost daily, and has attended the holiday fest at the White House the last seven years. Now, why do you think Team Trump would snub a gay reporter… Oh, got it. Nevermind.
• Jim Nabors, of Gomer Pyle, of The Andy Griffith Show, and the show’s spinoff, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., died at the age of 87. He married his partner Stan Cadwallader in 2013. They had been together 42 years. Thanks to his “Gomer Pyle” role, Nabors was one of the few ever to be named an Honorary Marine.
Semper Fi, Gomer Pyle.
Rest in peace Jim Nabors, one of the few to ever be named an Honorary Marine. pic.twitter.com/B3m3RYAbPy
• Timothée Chalamet had a great night at the New York Film Critics Circle last night where he snagged the Best Actor award for his stunning work in the coming-of-age gay romance, Call Me By Your Name. Chalamet also saw another film he is appearing in, Lady Bird, win for Best Film.
• Check out this year’s holiday commercial from H&M titled “A Magical Holiday” starring Nicki Minaj, Grey Anatomy’s Jesse Williams, and John Turturro as the villain who stole Christmas presents from children across the globe. Three minutes of non-Trump, holiday cuteness – watch below.
• The Anaheim Ducks tweeted, then deleted, this video of Ryan Kesler walking around the Ducks’ offices in his “birthday suit” to celebrate the 100th birthday of the National Hockey League yesterday.
The @AnaheimDucks released this cringe-worthy and tone-deaf video of Kesler walking the office naked. The tweet has since been deleted. pic.twitter.com/b0DNTyT0aE
• Forty people were injured in Spain’s Canary Islands this weekend when a popular gay nightclub’s dancefloor collapsed plunging dozens of clubgoers down into the basement.
• The FDA has approved the first two-drug daily regimen for treating HIV.
• Former Olympic swimmer for the UK, Mark Foster, who has appeared on Strictly Come Dancing and acts as a commentator for swimming coverage, has come out at the age of 47.
The video was released alongside a study of 1,000 men that showed 67% believe a man’s role in society has evolved; 45% say they have felt unable to share their feelings because of their gender, and 23% admit that they still feel pressure to be a ‘man’s man.’ Watch the video below.
Georgia state Rep. Betty Price caused an uproar this week when, during a study committee hearing, she suggested that HIV+ people should be quarantined since they aren’t dying as “readily” as they used to.
The full quote:
“I don’t want to say the quarantine word, but I guess I just said it. Is there an ability, since I would guess that public dollars are expended heavily in prophylaxis and treatment of this condition? So we have a public interest in curtailing the spread. What would you advise or are there any methods legally that we could do that would curtail the spread?”
“It seems to me it’s almost frightening, the number of people who are living that are potentially carriers. Well they are carriers, with the potential to spread, whereas in the past they died more readily and then at that point they are not posing a risk. So we’ve got a huge population posing a risk if they are not in treatment.”
On Saturday, Price walked her comments back saying she was “taken completely out of context.”
I made a provocative and rhetorical comment as part of a free-flowing conversation which has been taken completely out of context. I do not support a quarantine in this public health challenge and dilemma of undertreated HIV patients. I do, however, wish to light a fire under all of us with responsibility in the public health arena – a fire that will result in resolve and commitment to ensure that all of our fellow citizens with HIV will receive, and adhere to, a treatment regimen that will enhance their quality of life and protect the health of the public.
You’ll recall Price’s husband recently stepped down as Health and Human Services Secretary after it was revealed he spent over $500,000 in private planes during his short tenure.
Betty Price, the wife of former Health Secretary Tom Price and currently a George state lawmaker, has come under fire for asking during a recent state House committee meeting if HIV+ folks should be quarantined.
Price also considered if the U.S. would be safer if positive people “died more readily.”
“It’s almost frightening, the number of people who are living that are carriers with the potential to spread,” Price said during a Georgia House of Representatives committee meeting on access to health care in the state (around the one-hour mark of the video). “Whereas in the past, they died more readily, and at that point they’re not posing a risk. So we’ve got a huge population posing a risk if they’re not in treatment.”
Price also said that while she didn’t necessarily want to quarantine people with HIV, that is exactly what she wants to do.
“I don’t want to say the quarantine word—but I guess I just said it,” Price said to Dr. Pascale Wortley, director of the Georgia Department of Public Health’s HIV epidemiology section, according to STAT News.
“Is there an ability, since I would guess that public dollars are expended heavily in prophylaxis and treatment of this condition, so we have a public interest in curtailing the spread. … Are there any methods legally that we could do that would curtail the spread?”
The answer, Ms. Price, is “no.”
Georgia had the second highest number of HIV diagnoses in 2015.
You can watch the remarks on video here. Price’s comment comes at the one hour, two minute mark.
You’ll recall Price’s husband resigned from the Trump administration after spending over half a million dollars in private plane travel.
Earlier this week, Prince Harry became the first royal to accept an award from a gay magazine.
At the Attitude Awards, Harry showed up to accept a posthumous Attitude Legacy Award on behalf of his deceased mother, Princess Diana, Princess of Wales.
Following in his mother’s footsteps, the Prince has actively campaigned on HIV/AIDS issues, while also praising the “amazing” work of a transgender children’s charity.
Many in the gay community held a special affinity with the Princess, in part due to her work during the AIDS crisis.
During the AIDS crisis Princess Diana made many visits both officially and unofficially – and famously shook hands with a patient at the height of HIV stigma.
The charity named in her honour, The Diana Award, also works to tackle homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying.
The Prince has adopted HIV as one of his key campaigning issues, visiting a number of HIV clinics, attending the International AIDS Conference in South Africa, and speaking about his late mother’s work on the issue.
Last year the Prince made headlines by taking a HIV test himself in a Facebook Live video earlier this month, in an appeal for more people to get tested.
The Prince said of his mother: “She started very punchy [on AIDS].
“She smashed the stigma around HIV on more than one occasion. It had a huge impact, and a huge impact on my life as well.”
Prince Harry added: “I don’t consciously channel myself down certain avenues specifically because I think my mum would be proud. But she sure as hell would be proud of me, hopefully, that I’m doing it.”
He explained: “If you’re not going to get tested for yourself and you’re not going to go and get tested for your loved ones that you could possibly infect, then… I don’t know if it’s a selfish thing to say or not, but if you respect what my mother stood for, go and get tested for her.
“It’s 20 years next year since she died, and 30 years ago she was in this hospital [HIV clinic Mildmay] and she did something that no-one else had ever done before.
“If she were still here today, she would probably get tested every month, just to prove a point.”
The annual Attitude Awards are dedicated to honoring those who inspire, advance change, make LGBT lives better, influence and entertain. For the sixth year, funds raised at the event benefited the Elton John AIDS Foundation.
Lots of big celebrities turned out for the event including Kylie Minogue, Nyle DiMarco, Laverne Cox, Sam Smith, Tom Daley, Harry Judd, Mel C and many more.
Watch Prince Harry’s acceptance speech at the Attitude Awards below.
