TPAN Executive Director departs, Interim Director appointed
Researchers responsible for discovering HIV awarded Nobel Prize for Medicine
Prezista 300 mg tablet being phased out
Merck to study once-daily raltegravir dosing, participants wanted
Studies show maraviroc effective against resistant virus
TPAN Executive Director departs, Interim Director appointed
The Board of Directors of Test Positive Aware Network (TPAN), the parent organization of Positively Aware, announced last week that Rick Bejlovec, Executive Director since 2004, resigned effective October 3, 2008.
“Rick did many good things for TPAN, the clients it serves, and the readers of Positively Aware magazine. He was a leader in Chicago’s HIV community,” said TPAN Board President Condon McGlothlen. “We will work to build on his achievements moving forward.”
Bejlovec joined TPAN in 1995 and held several positions during his 13-year tenure, including editor of the HIV Services Directory and business director.
In the interim, the Board has appointed Bill Farrand, TPAN’s Director of Client Services, to lead the agency until a permanent replacement is secured. As Interim Executive Director, Farrand will oversee the agency’s day-to-day operations and continue to manage client programs and services.
Farrand began his career at TPAN as the editor of the Illinois HIV Services Directory and later became the agency’s Prevention Manager. Before arriving at TPAN, he was a vice president and manager of online banking customer technical support at LaSalle Bank, and a customer service manager at Corecomm. Farrand is currently a student at Northeastern Illinois University, and will receive his Master of Arts degree in Community Counseling in August 2009.
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Researchers responsible for discovering HIV awarded Nobel Prize for Medicine
French researchers Francoise Barre-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier were recently awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine for their discovery of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
Their breakthrough discovery occurred in 1983, and was critical to the understanding that we now have about how HIV replicates and the affect that it has on the cells it infects. This understanding continues to produce increasingly more effective treatment interventions, while subsequently contributing to the wealth of biological and social knowledge that is available regarding the prevention of viral transmission.
Montagnier acknowledged U.S. researcher Dr. Robert Gallo as someone also worthy of recognition in the early groundbreaking research into HIV. He and Gallo debated extensively during this time period, arguments which may have contributed significantly to Montagnier and Barre-Sinoussi’s discovery.
The researchers will share the $1.4 million prize with Zur Hausen, a German medical doctor and scientist who discovered two high-risk types of the human papilloma virus (HPV). HPV is linked to cervical cancer in women and anal cancer in men who have sex with men.
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Prezista 300 mg tablet being phased out
Tibotec Therapeutics, makers of the protease inhibitor Prezista (darunavir), informed community members last week of its decision to discontinue manufacture of the 300 mg Prezista tablet. Prezista was approved for use in 2006, and a 600 mg Prezista tablet was released earlier this year. Prezista is currently approved for use in adults at 600 mg plus 100 mg Norvir (ritonavir) twice daily (there is no approved dose for pediatric use).
Company officials stated that the decision to discontinue the 300 mg tablet was based in part to avoid confusion between the two tablets, and that they been working aggressively with providers in an effort to educate their patients regarding the newer 600 mg tablet. The 300 mg tablet will be available until current supplies are depleted, and will also be available on a special needs basis. Anyone with medical questions regarding Prezista can call 1-877-REACHTT (732-2488).
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Merck to study once-daily raltegravir dosing, participants wanted
A chemical engineer at Cambridge University has devised a simple nipple shield that prevents HIV transmission Pharmaceutical producer Merck and Co., Inc. recently announced that it will begin studying one of its HIV drugs, raltegravir (Isentress), for use in once-daily dosing.
Raltegravir was the first, and currently the only, integrase inhibitor available to the pubic. Integrase inhibitors, a developing class of medications used to target HIV, work in collaboration with other HIV drugs to impact the replication of the virus. Specifically, these drugs intervene where HIV actually integrates itself into human DNA.
Currently, raltegravir is prescribed twice-daily as a part of an antiretroviral regimen. This new study, referred to as QDMARK, will compare this dosage with a once-daily dosage, with emtricitabtine and tenofovir (Truvada) prescribed as the additional necessary components of therapy for participants. The study will enroll 750 patients at 94 centers in 21 countries.
Patients interested in taking part in the QDMARK clinical trial are encouraged to speak with their physician. For more information, please visit www.benchmrk.com and click on QDMRK.
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Studies show maraviroc effective against resistant virus
The MOTIVATE 1 and 2 studies sponsored by Pfizer, Inc., maker of the HIV drug maraviroc, found the drug to be effective in treating people who have developed resistance to other classes of HIV drugs.
Maraviroc (Selzentry) is the second and most recent drug available in a developing class of antiretroviral drugs known as entry inhibitors. Different from any of the other classes of drugs, entry inhibitors actually target the receptors that HIV use to enter into the cell. HIV uses two different types of receptors, maraviroc targets the CCR5 receptors.
In these studies, which enrolled 1,049 people in Australia, Europe and North America, two separate cohorts received a standard HIV regimen. One of the groups, however, was also given maraviroc, while the other was given placebo (or sugar pill).
The study criteria required that participants be resistant to three classes of the six currently available classes of HIV drugs. At 48-weeks, at least 42% of the people in the group actually receiving maraviroc as a part of their combination drug therapy showed viral loads below levels thought to be harmful to the immune system, compared to 18% of the participants receiving placebo.
No unusual side effects were reported among participants receiving maraviroc, and although the drug’s label warns against possible liver problems, no liver related concerns were reported.
Data from the study’s 96-week mark are currently being examined and may be presented as early as November.
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