Gilead Announces Agreement with Tibotec to Develop Once-Daily, Fixed Dose Drug
New Findings Offer Hope for Vaccine Development
Flowers Heritage Foundation Donates Condoms to Non-Profit Organizations
Protestors Arrested While Demanding AIDS Funding
Federal Appeals Court Rejects Lawsuit Against Abbott Over HIV/AIDS Drug Price Hike
Gilead Announces Agreement with Tibotec to Develop Once-Daily, Fixed Dose Drug
In a July 16 press release from the AIDS Treatment Activist Coalition (ATAC), it was reported that Gilead Sciences, Inc. has announced that it has “entered into a license and collaboration agreement with Tibotec Pharmaceuticals for the development and commercialization of a new once-daily fixed dose antiretroviral regimen containing Gilead’s Truvada® (emtricitabine and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate) and Tibotec’s investigational non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) TMC278 (rilpivirine hydrochloride, 25 mg) for treatment-naïve HIV-infected individuals.”
“Gilead and Tibotec share a strong focus on bringing safe and effective treatment options to people living with HIV/AIDS,” said John C. Martin, PhD, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Gilead Sciences. “Fixed dose regimens have become the standard of care as HIV treatment has evolved toward more simplified regimens for patients. We are very pleased to collaborate with Tibotec and look forward to advancing this new fixed dose product.”
If approved, the new product would become the second complete antiretroviral treatment regimen for HIV available in a single tablet taken once daily. Atripla, FDA-approved in 2006, is the only one currently on the market.
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New Findings Offer Hope for Vaccine Development
A story by Sarah Avery, published on July 7 in the Raleigh News & Observer, reports that scientists at Duke University and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill have discovered that the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), once considered to be a slow invader, actually works quickly to disarm key components of the immune response, attacking immune cells that scientists previously believed were less vulnerable in the early stages of infection. The study findings, reported in the online journal PLoS Medicine, give scientists new information that could help them to develop a vaccine to protect against HIV.
The study used technology pioneered at UNC-Chapel Hill to detect the virus within days of infection. The early detection methods were used at public health clinics, and a group of newly diagnosed patients were recruited to participate in a study of how the immune system is affected at early stages. Findings from these patients showed that the immune system is quickly neutralized by HIV in three ways.
First, the virus destroys sites that harbor so-called B cells, which originate in the bone marrow and congregate in areas of the small intestine. Then, HIV creates a “smoke screen” that provides a way for it to hide when the B cells are activated. Finally, the virus also destroys helper B cells, which are necessary for an effective immune response.
For years, HIV researchers have focused on T-cells, another type of immune cell formed in the thymus, because HIV is known to destroy the ability of T-cells to fight infections. According to immunologist Dr. Barton Haynes, senior author of the study and Director of the Center for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Immunology, even armed with the new information, scientists have a formidable task in developing a vaccine. "It would have to be different than any other vaccine made," Haynes said.
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Flowers Heritage Foundation Donates Condoms to Non-Profit Organizations
The Flowers Heritage Foundation recently donated 500,000 condoms to non-profit organizations in San Francisco, Miami, Washington D.C, and Puerto Rico. The initiative is part of a larger project that aims to give away one million condoms each year to help communities that are vulnerable to the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
Gregory Edwards, Executive Director, said, “The HIV/AIDS epidemic affects everyone, regardless of age, race or sex and the single greatest hope we have of overcoming the epidemic is prevention. Our efforts to donate one million condoms to other like-minded non-profit organizations are an attempt to help provide support for underserved communities and protect our communities both locally and abroad.”
“Condoms remain the most effective way to prevent the sexual transmission of HIV,” said Mark Cloutier, CEO of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, one of the recipients of the donated condoms. “We are indebted to the Flowers Heritage Foundation for understanding how the simplest tools are often the best.”
For more information, visit www.flowersheritagefoundation.com.
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Protestors Arrested While Demanding AIDS Funding
In a July 9 press release from Washington, D.C.’s Housing Works, it was reported that dozens of AIDS activists from across the northeastern U.S. staged a loud demonstration inside the Capitol Rotunda on the eve of key Congressional votes on appropriations for crucial HIV/AIDS programs.
The activists charged the Obama administration with failure to make good on a range of AIDS campaign promises, including his pledge to lift the federal ban on funding syringe exchange, to fully fund global AIDS programs, and to fully fund AIDS housing programs in this year’s budget. The activists demanded leaders of Congress revise President Obama’s flawed budget proposal.
Housing Works President and CEO Charles King, who is living with HIV, was among the activists who were arrested. “Obama can no longer ignore the promises that he made in order to win the support of Americans who care about ending the AIDS epidemic. So far, he has let us down on all fronts,” said King.
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Federal Appeals Court Rejects Lawsuit Against Abbott Over HIV/AIDS Drug Price Hike
In the July 7 El Paso Times, the Associated Press reported that a federal appeals court has rejected a lawsuit against Abbott Laboratories accusing the company "of antitrust violations over a sudden 400% price hike of a popular AIDS drug." A coalition of advocacy groups and drug benefit providers, including the Fair Pricing Commission, sued Abbott in 2004 alleging the "drugmaker raised the price of the HIV-fighting Norvir to stifle competition and boost sales of its own alternative, Kaletra. The company paid $10 million to settle the lawsuit and agreed to let the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals still determine if the price hike was an illegal business practice," writes the AP in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. A lawyer for the advocacy groups says they are still deciding whether to file an appeal.
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