After years of legal wrangling and controversy, authorities finally approved an anti-HIV drug trial. Sharon Davis and Christina Scott report.
A clinical trial investigating ways to prevent newborns from contracting HIV through breast milk is set to proceed in South Africa, following a court judgement overruling the apparent reluctance of the country's drugs regulators to let the trial go ahead.
South Africa's Medicines Control Council (MCC) finally approved the trial last week (30 July) after a protracted battle between the MCC and paediatric HIV/AIDS researchers that ended in court.
The situation highlights problems in scaling up HIV/AIDS research in South Africa. The Sydney Declaration at the recent International AIDS Society conference in Australia (22-28 July) called for an increase in research in the developing world (see Scientists: Don't neglect HIV/AIDS research).
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Friday, August 10, 2007
Former deputy Health Minister responds to controversial sacking
The recently sacked Deputy Health Minister, Nozizwe Madlala- Routledge, held a press conference on Friday at Primedia Studios in Cape Town. This comes after she was dismissed from her position by President Thabo Mbeki on Wednesday.
She addressed the issues of her attending an AIDS conference in Madrid and her unannounced visit to Frere Hospital, where she describes the state of the hospital as “shocking”.
“The other reason for my dismissal is a much publicised report of a request by an anonymous whistle-blower, into the unauthorised trip I undertook to Madrid to address a conference hosted by the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI),” says Madlala-Routledgeread more
Don't Let Insects Bug Your Gardening
West Nile virus is not a disease transmitted from person to person. Instead, mosquitoes become infected after feeding on the blood of birds or other animals carrying the virus. They spread the disease to humans with their bite, which becomes most potent in early fall. That's why the disease rate climbs so rapidly through the period.
About one in every five people infected with the West Nile virus develops symptoms including headaches, fever, fatigue, nausea and a skin rash.
Mosquitoes generally rank No. 1 on every gardener's bite parade, but humans are prey animals for other insects, too, including black flies (gnats), deer flies, chiggers, no-see-ums, yellow jackets and wasps and ticks.read more
New HIV cases identified in Kyrgyzstan
BISHKEK, August 10 (Itar-Tass) - New HIV cases have been identified in the Osh region of Kyrgyzstan.
The Health Ministry’s specialists said the new cases had been detected during examination of people who were in contact with infected infants.
They infants were treated in the pediatric department of the Osh infection disease clinic in this year’s spring.
Available information suggests that the nine infants, a mother and a doctor were infected because of medics’ violating rules of using catheters.
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The Health Ministry’s specialists said the new cases had been detected during examination of people who were in contact with infected infants.
They infants were treated in the pediatric department of the Osh infection disease clinic in this year’s spring.
Available information suggests that the nine infants, a mother and a doctor were infected because of medics’ violating rules of using catheters.
read more
Bulgarian medics testify about tortures in Libya
Six Bulgarian medics freed in July after spending more than eight years in a Libyan prison, told an investigation commission Friday in Sofia how they were subjected to torture in jail.
The six medics, who had been convicted of deliberately infecting over 400 Libyan children with the HIV virus at a hospital in Benghazi where they worked, had said upon returning to Sofia in July that Libyan police had used electric shocks and beat them to extract confessions.
The group was extradited from Libya on July 24 after more than eight years of imprisonment and received a presidential pardon upon their arrival in Sofia.
The medics have always maintained their innocence, with the support of international experts who have said the infections occurred before their arrival at the hospital and were sparked by poor hygiene.
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The six medics, who had been convicted of deliberately infecting over 400 Libyan children with the HIV virus at a hospital in Benghazi where they worked, had said upon returning to Sofia in July that Libyan police had used electric shocks and beat them to extract confessions.
The group was extradited from Libya on July 24 after more than eight years of imprisonment and received a presidential pardon upon their arrival in Sofia.
The medics have always maintained their innocence, with the support of international experts who have said the infections occurred before their arrival at the hospital and were sparked by poor hygiene.
read more
U.N. grants Mozambique $496 million in aid
MAPUTO, Aug 10 (Reuters) - The United Nations will grant Mozambique $496 million in aid over the next two years to boost the country's efforts to develop its economy, improve governance and fight against AIDS, an official said on Friday.
U.N. communications officer in Mozambique Luis Zaqueu told Reuters the world body would give $156 million to develop human capital, $119 million on governance, $118 on economic development and $103 million to fight AIDS.
Half of Mozambique's 2007 budget of $2.8 billion is financed by donors helping the former Portuguese colony rebuild after decades of a civil war that ended in the 1990s.
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Youths learn from others' experiences; HIV-AIDS conference gives young people forum for discussion
The 22-year-old youth worker from Nipissing First Nation said she picked up a few lessons to share while attending the Respect Yourself, Protect Yourself HIV-AIDS Conference at Best Western North Bay.
Conditions of poverty in the inner city and on reserves lead to self-destructive lifestyles, with HIV transmission rampant among addicts sharing needles and those involved in the sex trade.
A Canadore College student who started taking early childhood education and continued into the social work program, she said the best part of the conference was hearing from people who knew what they were talking about. read more
Conditions of poverty in the inner city and on reserves lead to self-destructive lifestyles, with HIV transmission rampant among addicts sharing needles and those involved in the sex trade.
A Canadore College student who started taking early childhood education and continued into the social work program, she said the best part of the conference was hearing from people who knew what they were talking about. read more
Ambrilia Announces Second Quarter 2007 Results and Provides Update on Development Program
MONTREAL, QUEBEC--(Marketwire - Aug. 10, 2007) - Ambrilia Biopharma Inc. (TSX:AMB), a biopharmaceutical company developing novel small molecules and peptides to treat infectious diseases and cancer, announced today the second quarter 2007 financial results and provided an update on its development program
HIV INTEGRASE INHIBITOR PROGRAM
The preclinical data presented recently at the XVI International HIV Drug Resistance Workshop showed that Ambrilia's new series of integrase inhibitors (pyrazolopyridine compounds) had a good activity against HIV-1 viruses, without significant cytotoxicity.
Furthermore, cross-competition kinetic studies with known competitive strand transfer inhibitors (such as diketo acid compounds) suggested a different mechanism of action, which may lead to a different resistance profile from known strand transfer inhibitors currently in clinical development by pharmaceutical companies. The Company has currently identified a number of lead compounds for optimization and aims to have a potential preclinical drug candidate within the next 12 months.
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HIV INTEGRASE INHIBITOR PROGRAM
The preclinical data presented recently at the XVI International HIV Drug Resistance Workshop showed that Ambrilia's new series of integrase inhibitors (pyrazolopyridine compounds) had a good activity against HIV-1 viruses, without significant cytotoxicity.
Furthermore, cross-competition kinetic studies with known competitive strand transfer inhibitors (such as diketo acid compounds) suggested a different mechanism of action, which may lead to a different resistance profile from known strand transfer inhibitors currently in clinical development by pharmaceutical companies. The Company has currently identified a number of lead compounds for optimization and aims to have a potential preclinical drug candidate within the next 12 months.
read more
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