Tag: HIV/AIDS

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amfAR Dedicates $100 Million To HIV Cure By 2020

amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, one of the world’s leading nonprofit organizations dedicated to the support of AIDS research and HIV prevention, made a huge announcement today:

amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, today announced that it has created a $100 million investment strategy in support of its Countdown to a Cure for AIDS initiative, launched last year with the aim of developing the scientific basis of a cure by 2020. The establishment of the amfAR Institute for HIV Cure Research within a major academic research institution with a grant of $20 million will be the centerpiece of the investment strategy.

“This represents the greatest expansion of amfAR’s grant making in the 30-year history of the Foundation,” said Kevin Robert Frost, amfAR’s Chief Executive Officer. “We’re very excited to be launching this strategy and establishing an institute dedicated exclusively to the pursuit of a cure for HIV. Concentrating the minds and the efforts of leading AIDS cure researchers under one roof will facilitate the rapid sharing of knowledge and ideas and create the kind of synergy needed to accelerate the search for a cure.”

Since 1985, amfAR has invested $415 million in its programs and has awarded grants to more than 3,300 research teams worldwide.

(via press release)

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Facts To Remember Regarding HIV

Following Charlie Sheen’s announcement today regarding his HIV status, the Human Rights Campaign wants to remind you:

• Of the 1.2 million people living with HIV in the United States, roughly one in seven does not know their HIV status.

• There are still 50,000 new infections each year, with one in four new infections occurring among youth between the ages of 13 and 24.

• Gay and bisexual men and transgender women, particularly of color, continue to bear the biggest burden.

More information at HRC.org

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New HIV Drug Could Replace Daily Pills With Injectable Version Every Other Month

A new treatment for HIV taken once every eight weeks has been found just as affective as three daily pills, in one trial.

The trial backed by Johnson & Johnson as well as GlaxoSmithKlein, tested whether an injected drug taken once every eight weeks could effectively suppress HIV.

The head of J&J’s pharmaceuticals Paul Stoffels, said the drug could prove to be “transformational” in the way HIV is treated.

Saying he thought the combination could be on the market within five years, he said the results of the trial would need to be confirmed in larger final-stage trials.

The combination of rilpivirine from J&J and cabotegravir from GSK, kept the HIV virus suppressed to minimal levels, just as well as taking three pills daily.

It was tested with doses both monthly and every two months.

Those receiving the injection every month had a viral suppression of 94% after 32 weeks, and those every two months had a suppression rate of 95%.

In comparison, those on tablets had a suppression rate of 91%.

(from Pink News)

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Generic Meds Company To Sell Martin Shkreli’s AIDS Drug For $1

Take a look at that smirk. It probably won’t be there much any longer.

After hiking the price of Daraprim (a $1 pill taken primarily by AIDS patients) over 5000%, Martin Shkreli  – the most hated man in pharmaceuticals – is about to be torpedoed by the maker of generic drugs who now plan on selling the pill for $1 again.

San Diego-based Imprimis Pharmaceuticals Inc., which mixes approved drug ingredients to fill individual patient prescriptions, said Thursday it will supply capsules containing Daraprim’s active ingredients, pyrimethamine and leucovorin, for $99 for a 100-capsule bottle, via its site: www.imprimiscares.com.

The 3 1/2-year-old drug compounding firm also plans to start making inexpensive versions of other generic drugs whose prices have skyrocketed, Chief Executive Mark Baum told The Associated Press.

“We are looking at all of these cases where the sole-source generic companies are jacking the price way up,” Baum said in an interview. “There’ll be many more of these” compounded drugs coming in the near future.

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Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation & GLAAD: “Let’s Finish What We Started”

Via GLAAD:

GLAAD, the world’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) media advocacy organization, releases a new public service announcement (PSA) The PSA begins with Elizabeth Taylor’s historic and impassioned speech at the 1992 Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert as a framework to introduce a new generation to the modern realities of HIV and AIDS, as well as the tools we have to overcome them. It includes participation from Meredith Vieira, Whoopi Goldberg, Jonathan Groff, Michael Emerson, Tituss Burgess, and Bebe Neuwirth and will air nationally in a thirty-second format with generous support from Comcast–NBCUniversal. An extended version of the PSA will run online.

“The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation is thrilled to be partnering with GLAAD. Their organization was created to respond to misinformation in the media about HIV and AIDS at a time when conversation in the zeitgeist about the epidemic was very high, but understanding of the virus was very low,” said Joel Goldman, Managing Director of The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation. “ Today, it’s the opposite. Conversation about HIV and AIDS is barely discussed in individual circles and has comparatively fallen out of the news cycle. This is despite the fact that the U.S. has not seen a decrease in new infection rates in nearly two decades.”

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Florida Researcher Awarded $6 Million From Bill And Melinda Gates Foundation For HIV/AIDS Vaccine

Professor Michael Farzan, a researcher working with The Scripps Research Institute at Florida Atlantic University, has been awarded nearly $6 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to further develop an HIV/AIDS vaccine over the next four years.

Via University Press:

“I’m grateful to the Gates Foundation for its strong support of our research and for its continued commitment to eradicating HIV/AIDS throughout the world,” Farzan said in the news release.

The vaccine causes muscle tissue to release proteins that attach to the virus and trick it into thinking it bonded to a human cell. It then floats through the bloodstream, harmless and unable to reproduce. After receiving the vaccine, lab animals were protected from the HIV infection for up to a year.

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Former “Who’s The Boss?” Star Danny Pintauro Comes Out As HIV+

Former “Who’s The Boss?” star Danny Pintauro shared with the TV audience of “Oprah: Where Are They Now?” that he was diagnosed with HIV in 2003.

Via EXTRA:

“I wanted to tell you this a long time ago, but I wasn’t ready — I’m ready now — that I’m HIV positive,” Pintauro told Oprah. He was diagnosed 12 years ago but feared admitting the truth because, “It’s just a big deal.”

Pintauro said he wants to be open about his status to help others. “”I missed the opportunity to be a beacon of light for gay kids who were going through what I was going through because I was outed — it wasn’t by choice.”

Pentauro also acknowledged that he became a crystal meth user (he no longer uses the drug) during a period of time after the end of a two-year relationship. He said he began experimenting with the drug the same year he was diagnosed with HIV.

“I had just come out of a two-year relationship and I discovered in that relationship that there was more I wanted to explore… sexually. Crystal meth takes away your inhibitions, you have no limits.”

Pintauro came out in 1997 when a tabloid reporter called him back then saying the paper was going to out him whether he cooperated or not.

Judith Light, his former “Who’s the Boss?” co-star, urged Pintauro to take the lead in breaking the story as a way of controlling the message. “It was the best thing,” Pintauro says now. “‘They can’t misquote you,’ she said. ‘And as long as you give really responsible and mature answers, it can’t be a bad article.'”

In an interview on Monday, Light told Good Day New York, ‘I am so proud of him. He’s talking about being HIV positive. He is being incredibly proactive. He now has a wonderful husband named Wil.

‘He’s giving a different face to what is still a disease that has not been handled.’

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Hedge Fund Guy Buys AIDS Drug Company, Jacks Price From $13.50 Per Pill To $750

Martin Shkreli

Former hedge fund manager turned pharmaceutical businessman, 32 year old Martin Shkreli, recently purchased the rights to a 62-year-old drug, Daraprim, used for treating life-threatening parasitic infections like AIDS and cancer patients experience.

Shkreli promptly raised the price overnight from $13.50 per tablet to a whopping $750.

That’s a 5,500 percent increase for the exact same pill.

From Raw Story:

Daraprim is used for treating toxoplasmosis — an opportunistic parasitic infection that can cause serious or even life-threatening problems in babies and for people with compromised immune systems like AIDS patients and certain cancer patients — that sold for slightly over $1 a tablet several years ago.

“This isn’t the greedy drug company trying to gouge patients, it is us trying to stay in business,” Shkreli explained, saying that many patients use the drug for far less than a year and that the new price is similar to other drugs used for rare diseases.

Shrkeli also defended his small pharmaceutical company saying, “It really doesn’t make sense to get any criticism for this.”

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know – you buy a company, you get to charge whatever you want for the product.

But this is just GROSS.

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Study: No Men On PrEP Contracted HIV Over 32 Months

A new study by Kaiser Permanente published in Clinical Infectious Diseases shows that over a 32 month period exactly zero men, out of 600 participants  who took Truvada on a daily basis, contracted HIV.

Zero.

Via Gay.net:

“Our study is the first to extend the understanding of the use of PrEP in a real-world setting and suggests that the treatment may prevent new HIV infections even in a high-risk setting,” he said in a press release. “Until now, evidence supporting the efficacy of PrEP to prevent HIV infection had come from clinical trials and a demonstration project.”

However, 30 percent of participants did contract at least one sexually transmitted infection within six months of the study’s commencement. This number jumped to 50 percent after one year.

In addition, 41 percent of participants reported a decrease in condom use, in contrast to the 56 percent who said their use of condoms remained unchanged throughout the study.

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News Round-Up: August 21, 2015

A photo posted by ❌🅰vie® ©🅰still🅾 (@javocast13) on Jun 15, 2015 at 6:26pm PDT

Some news stories you might have missed:

• We know we found one of the hottest math teachers ever, but is this the hottest accountant in the world?

• Caitlyn Jenner could face misdemeanor manslaughter charge (usually a one year prison sentence) for February crash in Malibu.

• Scientists may have found a way to block transmission of HIV and hepatitis C via semen.

• Illinois governor signs legislation banning “ex-gay” torture for LGBTQ youth.

• The federal government to retroactively offer Social Security spousal benefits to same-sex couples who lived in states where their marriage weren’t previously recognized.

• Backstreet Boys, N’Sync and Olivia Newton-John’s daughter Chloe Lattanzi shooting a futuristic “cowboys & zombies” movie.

A photo posted by Nick Carter (@nickcarter) on Aug 16, 2015 at 1:55pm PDT