Dear Colleague,

This month's Drug Resistance e-Newsletter highlights the 2008 International AIDS Conference held in Mexico City, August 3-8. CGD kept its eyes open and ears peeled for drug resistance news and was well-represented by Senior Fellow Mead Over presenting new research on ART adherence and Nandini Oomman, with fellow experts of the HIV/AIDS Monitor, launching their new report. But, the paucity of resistance-related content at this event -- with barely 5% of accepted abstracts even mentioning the topic -- was both disappointing and predictable, as touched on in my article in the latest issue of Foreign Policy. Be sure to read featured columnist Eddie Power's take on the role of the biopharmaceutical industry below.

As always, we welcome your thoughts at [email protected].

Regards,
Rachel Nugent
Deputy Director for Global Health
Center for Global Development

FEATURED COLUMN

The Pharmaceutical Industry and Antimicrobial Resistance

While the bio-pharmaceutical industry recognizes the documented rise of antimicrobial resistance is a key threat to human health - particularly in the developing world - little is being done to fight it. Whether painted as pioneers of new antibiotics or profiteers of their most marketable drugs, pharmaceutical companies have a large stake in either curbing or accelerating resistance. Guest columnist Eddie Power of Cubist Pharmaceuticals asks, what is the pharmaceutical industry's role in addressing antimicrobial resistance? Power provides analysis on the best approach.

READ MORE

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IN THE MEDIA

Sticking with simple antibiotics for pneumonia to avoid the spread of hospital super bugs(University of Melbourne News)

TB treatments - hopelessly out of date (News-Medical.net)

Isolation of XDR-TB patients in Namibia (The Namibian)

MDR-TB in Russia (Scientific American)

Drug resistant malaria in India (Daily News and Analysis)

Delaying evolution of drug resistance in malaria parasite possible (University of Florida's Emerging Pathogens Institute)

Private Physicians Giving Wrong Medication to HIV Patients (The Times of India)

The contribution of hidden mutations to development of resistant-HIV strains (McGill Public and Media Newsroom)

Widespread NRTI and NNRTI resistance in Malawian patients failing first-line ART (Aidsmap)

Featured VIDEO

resources

A recent UK House of Lords report makes high-priority recommendations for the building-up of in-country surveillance and diagnostic capabilities for anti-microbial resistance and argues for increased coordination and collaboration between international organizations and governments. (BBC News Reports)

latest research

Systematic review of clinical trials focusing on emergence of Drug Resistance in HIV Type 1--Infected Patients afterReceipt of First-Line HAART (Clinical Infectious Diseases)

XDR-TB in Taiwan (Clinical Infectious Diseases)

Using sensitive and simple tests to investigate evidence of transmitted drug resistance in antiretroviral drug-naive persons (PloS Medicine)

New weapon shows potential against many forms of resistance (Proceedings National Academy of Sciences)