What if by taking a pill every day, all 33 million HIV-infected people in the world could not only fend off the deterioration of their own health, but also reduce their chances of infecting uninfected sex partners by 96 %? This is the prospect that is offered by newly announced results of the HPTN 052 trial. (See the Kaiser Foundation report here, the UNAIDS announcement here
In a recent blog, I bemoaned the fact that donors were unable to secure the estimated $100 million needed to test and confirm the HIV prevention success of the CAPRISA microbicide. The comments on that blog by scientific writers Jon Cohen and Roger Tatoud point out that other trials of microbicide gels are in the works and that one in particular, the so-called VOICE trial, is both close to completi
When you’ve had enough light summer reading about the unintended consequences of relaxing regulations of the offshore drilling industry or of the U.S.
A new research study by Hoare et al in PLoS (ungated) projects that, within ten years after countries attain universal access to antiretroviral treatment for AIDS, one fifth of all patients starting treatment will never have a chance to benefit from the least-expensive and least-toxic treatments, because their initial infection will be a drug resistant strain of HIV.
There has been a great deal of discussion at this week’s IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention in Cape Town, South Africa of four expensive directions for proposed expansion of access to antiretroviral treatment for AIDS patients in poor countries (ART):
My new working paper makes a foray into disputed territory by examining the case for public sector delivery of anti-retroviral therapy for AIDS in South Asia.