Free iPhone HIV Treatment App

posted: 16/11/2010

HIV iChart, a free new iPhone application, has been launched by the University of Liverpool. HIV-iChart gives instant information about the way different HIV drugs interact with other mediations, for people with HIV and clinicians. The new iPhone app for iPhone and iPod Touch is based on the University’s HIV drug interactions website.
 

Drug interactions and side effects

In HIV treatment, people usually take a combination of three anti-HIV drugs, and may take other drugs to treat other health problems. The various drugs can all interact, affecting how well the treatments work and sometimes producing serious side effects. The iPhone app says which drugs should not be used, whether there is a need to monitor the response, adjust the dose, or make other changes in treatment.
 

Ward, clinic, and community uses
Professor David Back, Professor of Pharmacology, said: “We are delighted to launch this application for iPhones that will provide HIV patients and healthcare professionals with instant and easy access to information about HIV drug interactions that is relevant, reliable and up-to-date. HIV iChart can be used on a hospital ward or in a clinic, in primary-care units, health centres and the community. In addition to the HIV drugs interaction website, this new tool will increase awareness of how to manage the disease more effectively.”
 

Dr Ian Williams, Chair of the British HIV Association (BHIVA), said: “This technology provides a marvellous opportunity to greatly increase the ease of access to drug interaction information. This is a way of helping to maintain best practice.”
 

Free app
HIV iCharts is available free of charge and can be downloaded free from the App store in iTunes. The application is compatible with both the iPhone and iPod touch and only requires web access for the initial download and updates.
 

The application has been created by the HIV Pharmacology Group at the University of Liverpool and developed with eMedFusion, a division of the KnowledgePoint360 Group. It is supported by the Elton John AIDS Foundation, MSD and Janssen. HIV iCharts was launched at the Tenth International Congress on Drug Therapy in HIV Infection which was held at the SECC in Glasgow.
 

HIV drug interactions website

Source
 

More Drug Resistance About

posted: 27/10/2010

There seems to be more transmitted drug-resistant HIV in the UK than we think, investigators say in HIV Medicine. The usual tests found 13% of undiagnosed HIV-positive gay men have drug-resistant virus. However, using more sensitive tests the researchers found 19% have become infected with drug resistant HIV.
 

Avoiding resistance

HIV treatment drug resistance is reduced by careful taking of HIV treatment, which is known as good adherence. Information and advice about better treatment taking and on adherence is in this booklet from NAM.

Rise and fall of resistance
The proportion of people who have become infected with drug-resistant HIV in the UK peaked at 12% in 2002. Better HIV treatment and care since then means this fell to 8% by 2006.

Resistance: test and treat

Everyone should be tested for drug resistance at the time of their HIV diagnosis. Drug resistance is measured at the time of HIV diagnosis because it becomes harder to find later. 

Even a little drug resistance reduces how well anti-HIV treatments will work. Knowing at the start what drugs someone’s HIV is already resistant to helps doctors and patients choose their personal best combination of HIV treatment drugs.

After treatment has begun if the treatment needs to be changed for any reason, there is a new online tool for deciding the best alternatives based on any drug resistance: HIV Treatment Response Prediction System (HIV-TRePS). 

Ordinary drug resistance tests not enough
The tests used normally to find resistance are only able to detect the main resistance types each person has. An international team of investigators wanted to see if a more sensitive test would find more resistance.

They tested 165 blood samples (anonymous) from undiagnosed gay men who used UK sexual health clinics between 2003 and 2006. None of the men knew they have HIV.

Sensitive tests find more

The samples were tested using both the normal method, and with a much more sensitive test that can find small amounts of the mutations resistant to first-line anti-HIV drugs.

Using the standard test, 21 samples (13%) were found with some drug resistance. This increased to 32 samples (19%) when the sensitive assay was used. This 45% increase in resistance levels was highly statistically significant.
 

Mutations found
They also looked for specific mutations.

• The standard test showed that 6% of patients had the K103N mutation (meaning resistance to efavirenz), and this rose to 7% with the more sensitive assay. This is not a significant difference.
• They did not find anyone with the Y181C mutation (resistant to efavirenz and nevirapine).
• One man had the M184V mutation (and resistance to 3TC or FTC). But this increased from 1 man (0.6%) to 13 men (8%) when both tests were used. This is highly statistically significant.

“The findings ... support the suggestion that M184V is as likely to be transmitted as other mutations”, write the study authors, adding, “this study contributes evidence to support the inclusion of minority assays for M184V surveillance.”

Rising drug resistance
Resistance rose by calendar year according to both methods. The standard test found 15% of samples in 2003 were drug resistant, and this rose to 19% using the sensitive test. In 2006 the standard test showed 10% of men have drug resistance, but this doubles when using both tests (highly statistically significant).
 

Is resistance still rising?
Resistance was found in 19% of undiagnosed gay men who were recently infected with HIV, and in 20% of those with long-standing infections. It appears drug resistance is still falling.

Source with reference

article abstract

Better treatment taking advice to avoid resistance

EU Blocking Cheap HIV Drugs

posted: 08/10/2010

The EC is pushing for a trade agreement with India which will restrict companies from making cheap copycat drugs for poor countries, says MSF. In 2001, when the Doha declaration was signed, it was widely thought that the battle for cheap drugs for developing countries had been won.

The declaration created a helpful loophole in the medicine patent rules. Indian companies and those in other countries would be licensed to make cheap copies of patented HIV and other drugs for poor countries.
 

Fight-back against drug company and EU
Now Médecins Sans Frontières, is accusing the European Commission of aggressively pushing policies - including a trade agreement with India - that will dry up the flow of cheap drugs to those who badly need them in poor countries.
 

Europe! HANDS OFF our medicine
A three-month campaign, called "Europe! HANDS OFF our medicine", launched today, invites people to let the EC know they object by an easy email system. The emails go to the Trade Commissioner, Karel De Gucht. "If you continue to pursue your actions, people who rely on these medicines to stay alive will be left without a lifeline and many are likely to die," it says.
 

Send an email today

Tough language, but MSF believes the stakes are high and argues that the EC has been doing the bidding of the multinational drug companies (who want to protect their drug monopolies) for some time and in a number of ways. This is what Dr Unni Karunakara, president of MSF's international council says:
'We depend on access to affordable medicines like those produced in India to treat all kinds of diseases. We buy 80% of our AIDS medicines from India - medicines that keep 160,000 people alive today. On their behalf, we cannot remain silent as Europe works to close the door on every aspect of drug supply - the production of a generic medicine, its registration, and its transportation to patients in other parts of the world. So today we are launching a campaign demanding 'Europe! HANDS OFF our medicine.'

Tougher patent rules
There are several issues. The free trade agreement is seeking tougher patent rules than the existing World Trade Organisation agreement requires, says MSF. The EC wants to introduce "data exclusivity", which would stop a generic company registering a copy of a drug without running its own expensive and lengthy clinical trials. This would seriously delay the supply of generic versions.
One example is nevirapine syrup for children with HIV. It does not have a patent from the Indian patent office, which means generics companies could copy it. If there was data exclusivity, children in Africa would have had to wait for years.
 

Generic HIV drugs seized at ports
But the campaigners also take issue with the EC over a number of seizures of generic drugs that have taken place in European ports since 2008. AIDS drugs intended for Nigeria, bought by the European-funded access to medicines organisation UNITAID, were seized in the Netherlands.

EU pawn of drug companies
Michelle Childs, policy advisor for MSF's access campaign, says the EC is doing the pharmaceutical's industry bidding. "The IFPMA [the trade body] has said they want data exclusivity. They have repeatedly asked for this. It's been a long-standing aim of the pharmaceutical companies to introduce this because it gives them the extra period of time."
The Office of the EU Trade Commissioner denied it was impeding access to medicines for the poor. This was what its spokesman told the BBC:
‘The EU has never and will never stand in the way of the production of legitimate generic medicines. The EU is in favour of providing access to medicines to people in need and these negotiations with India do not stand in the way of this. Patents are important, they need to be protected. The European pharmaceutical companies say that the patents need to be protected otherwise the production of new drugs will be seriously in peril.’
MSF simply points out that the issue is not about patents.

Europe! HANDS OFF our medicine

Source
 

New Treatments Pipeline

posted: 10/09/2010

If you want to know about all the future treatments, tests, and prevention for HIV, hepatitis, and TB, the Treatment Action Group (TAG) have produced a new guide. It deals with

• future HIV antiretroviral treatments
• future ways of diagnosing HIV
• future HIV antiretroviral treatments for babies, children and young people
• future immune-based therapies and preventive technologies - like vaccines and pre-exposure prophylaxis (which means treatment to prevent HIV infection)
• future hepatitis B treatments
• future hepatitis C treatments
• future diagnosis, treatments and vaccines for tuberculosis (TB)

It's not an easy booklet to read, but there are 150 pages of information about new HIV treatments in the development 'pipeline.' That is a lot of new developments that should continue to steadily improve the quality and length of life people with HIV can expect.

TAG 2010 Pipeline Report from i-BASE

Treatment Action Group (TAG)

Pride excess and risks

posted: 27/08/2010

Pride is a tempting party time of drink, drugs and sex. So what’s not to like? The crowds, scene atmosphere and all-out hedonism drive some of us past our limits. Our livers complain, there are comedowns, and if we ‘forget’ and don’t use condoms, we may end the weekend with HIV or some other STI, or pass something on.

How can we stay more in control?
We can all use tips and tricks.

Set yourself strict limits and party only on special occasions, so you might decide one night only over the weekend, and set a limit for how late you stay out, the types of drinks, how many, or what you do.

Be more choosy about the situations and people, where the temptations to excess may be too much for you to resist.

Take only so much money, and leave at a time you decided earlier.

Drop the shots and more risky drugs.

Ask friends to watch out for you and help you stick to your rules and limits.

Alternate drinking soft drinks with alcohol.

Choose other ways to enjoy the time with friends – a BBQ, picnic, walk or swim, galleries, shopping, movies or a show.

Abstinence, going on the wagon for a time, works for some.

You can look after yourself and those around you and  have a good time.