Latest Antiretroviral drug Stories

Genetic mutations that lead to antiretroviral (the drugs used to treat HIV/AIDS) resistance in HIV-infected infants may develop as a result of exposure to low doses of maternal antiretroviral drugs via breastfeeding rather than being acquired directly from the mother. This key finding from a study by Clement Zeh from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Kisumu, Kenya, and colleagues, published in this week's PLoS Medicine, is important as it may impact the choice of drug regimen...

(Ivanhoe Newswire) "“ Scientists have proposed a fundamentally new intervention for the HIV/AIDS epidemic based on engineered, virus-like particles that could subdue HIV infection within individual patients and spread to high-risk populations that are difficult for healthcare workers to reach.Biochemist Leor Weinberger and colleagues at the University of California, San Diego and UCLA used a model that considers the effects of the proposed treatment on several scales, from interference with...

The standard approach to re-treating tuberculosis (TB) in low and middle income settings is failing, according to research funded by the Wellcome Trust. In a study published today in the open access journal PLoS Medicine, researchers call for improved access to rapid diagnostics for drug resistant TB, second-line TB treatment and antiretroviral HIV therapy.Each year, between one in ten and one in five patients treated for TB see their disease return after failing, interrupting or relapsing...

The first human studies of an oral drug regimen to prevent HIV infection in high-risk individuals yielded a promising near 50% reduction in HIV incidence, but a number of issues require additional research before oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) can be implemented on a large scale, according to an article in AIDS Patient Care and STDs, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. (www.liebertpub.com). The article is available free online at www.liebertpub.com/apcAfter the...

PITTSBURGH, March 10, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Mylan Inc. (Nasdaq: MYL) today announced that its subsidiary Matrix Laboratories Limited has received final approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) for its New Drug Application (NDA) for Zidovudine Tablets, 100 mg. The NDA is based on the reference listed drug Retrovir® Tablets, by ViiV Healthcare. This pediatric antiretroviral (ARV), the first of its kind in...

RICHMOND, Calif., March 3, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Sangamo BioSciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: SGMO) announced that data from its programs to develop ZFN-based therapeutic approaches for the treatment of HIV/AIDS were discussed in four oral presentations at the 18th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI), held in Boston from February 27 to March 2, 2011. "SB-728-T is a key addition to the toolbox of technologies required to move from the bone marrow transplant setting...

Giving breastfeeding infants of HIV-infected mothers a daily dose of the antiretroviral drug nevirapine for six months halved the risk of HIV transmission to the infants at age 6 months compared with giving infants the drug daily for six weeks, according to preliminary clinical trial data presented today.The longer nevirapine regimen achieved a 75 percent reduction in HIV transmission risk through breast milk for the infants of HIV-infected mothers with higher T-cell counts who had not yet...

Study conducted in Kenya by University of Washington researchersIntensive adherence counseling around the time of HIV treatment initiation significantly reduces poor adherence and virologic treatment failure in sub-Saharan Africa, according to a recent study in PLoS Medicine by Dr. Michael Chung, assistant professor of Global Health at University of Washington, who works at the Coptic Hope Center for Infectious Diseases in Nairobi, Kenya.The study published March 1 also found that using an...

NIH findings offer additional safeguard for children of mothers untreated during pregnancyPregnant women who are unaware that they have HIV miss the chance for drug treatment that can benefit not only their own health, but could also prevent them from transmitting the virus to their infants. When HIV is not diagnosed until women go into labor, their infants are usually treated soon after birth with the anti HIV drug zidovudine (ZDV), to prevent the infants from becoming infected with the...

BOSTON, March 2, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Argos Therapeutics announced today that its Arcelis immunotherapy for the treatment of HIV, AGS-004, demonstrated positive outcomes with the primary endpoint of viral load control and a favorable safety and immunogenicity profile in a final analysis of a Phase 2a clinical trial. Data for AGS-004 were presented in a poster at the 18th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in Boston. In the study, AGS-004 was safe and well...