AIDS Activists Issue Grades to Drug Companies
Rush University Medical Center Gets Grant for AIDS Research Center
The HIV/AIDS Crisis in Florida
NIH Grant Supports HIV Vaccine Research at U.C. Santa Cruz
Positively Aware “HIV Basics: What You Should Know” Available Now
AIDS Activists Issue Grades to Drug Companies
The AIDS Treatment Activists Coalition’s (ATAC) Drug Development Committee released its first annual Pharmaceutical Company HIV/AIDS Report Card on September 10. The Report Card ranks the nine pharmaceutical companies (Abbott Laboratories, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Gilead Sciences, GlaxoSmithKline, Hoffman La Roche, Merck & Co., Pfizer, and Tibotec) which have HIV/AIDS drugs on the market.
“There’s an opportunity now to kick it up a notch,” said Bob Huff, antiretroviral treatment director of the Treatment Action Group in New York and a board member of ATAC.
Twenty-one members of ATAC, a nonprofit group formed in 2001, researched the drug companies, interviewed executives and assigned grades assessing performance over the last quarter century, Huff said. The companies were scored on research and development, pricing, patient assistance programs, marketing, and community relations.
The report card graded the drug makers overall with a below-average C-minus and recommended improvements. The highest grade, B, went to both Merck & Co. and Tibotec Pharmaceuticals. Tibotec President Glenn Mattes, in a statement said, “We have worked purposefully and sincerely in developing our relationship with the HIV community since the company’s inception. The HIV community has played a vital role in helping us to develop our access programs and pricing approach, as well as GRACE, the largest women’s study of its kind. Our partnerships with the community have had a positive impact on the people living with HIV whom we serve.”
Abbott Laboratories received the lowest grade, an F, due in part to its 2003 400% increase in the price of Norvir. An Abbott spokesman, Dirk van Eeden, responded Wednesday, “The HIV community is an important stakeholder for us, so yes, we do take notice of the comments they make.” He added, “We really believe we’ve discovered important medicines and played our part in making sure the patients who need it can get it.”
Lynda Dee, a member of ATAC’s Drug Development Committee, said, “The report’s findings show that some pharmaceutical companies are clearly doing a much better job than others, and the common denominator among those companies who scored higher is their willingness to partner with the HIV advocacy community early on in the course of drug development, as well as implementing its recommendations. The aim of the report card project is to ultimately lay out a clear course of action for companies to take in their HIV/AIDS drug development efforts, which would be a win not only for the companies, but for consumers as well.”
To view the full report card, executive summary, criteria for scoring, and backgrounder with current statistics on the state of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, visit atac-usa.org.
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Rush University Medical Center Gets Grant for AIDS Research Center
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded a consortium of Chicago-based institutions, led by Rush University Medical Center (RUMC), a five-year, $3.75-million grant to establish a Developmental Center for AIDS Research. The new facility would house a comprehensive research infrastructure to “spur basic science, clinical studies, and translational research in the prevention, detection, and treatment of HIV infection and AIDS,” according to a press release from RUMC issued on September 9.
The center in Chicago involves investigators from RUMC, the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), and Cook County Health and Hospitals System (CCHHS), who will collaborate across disciplines and institutions to advance HIV/AIDS research.
"With this grant, we have an unparalleled opportunity to make Chicago an epicenter for AIDS research, focusing on translational research that takes investigations from bench to bedside, and out to the community, to make a truly significant impact," said Alan Landay, PhD, chairman of immunology and microbiology at RUMC, director of the new center, and an internationally recognized expert in immunology and HIV pathogenesis.
The NIH funding will be used to create shared "core" facilities that provide expertise and services to participating laboratories at all three institutions. Rush will head the administrative and developmental cores; UIC will direct the basic science and the social and behavioral sciences cores; and CCHHS, through the Ruth M. Rothstein CORE Center, will direct the clinical core
The Developmental Center for AIDS Research in Chicago will concentrate its investigations on HIV and women, with an emphasis on behavior and viral pathogenesis; HIV and aging, including studies of behavioral, cardiovascular, immune system, and neurocognitive issues; and HIV and drug abuse, focusing on behavioral questions and neuropharmacology.
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The HIV/AIDS Crisis in Florida
On September 8, the Florida Department of Health issued a report entitled, "Man Up: The Crisis of HIV/AIDS Among Florida's Men." The report revealed that one in every 123 adult men in Florida was living with HIV/AIDS through 2008.
Key statistics include:
- The statewide rate among black men was 4.8 times that of white men and 2.7 times that of Latino men.
- The highest rate in any racial/ethnic group was seen in Miami-Dade County, where one in 29 black men was living with HIV/AIDS in 2008. Following close behind was Palm Beach County (one in 31) and St. Lucie County (one in 32).
- The highest rate of white men living with HIV/AIDS was in Monroe County (one in 55).
The goal of the report is to stimulate the development and implementation of community action plans aimed at preventing the further spread of HIV/AIDS among Florida's men and their partners.
The Florida HIV/AIDS hotline (1.800.FLA.AIDS) provides HIV/AIDS-related information, community referrals, and supportive counseling. In addition, Florida residents can text their zip code to "477493" to find the nearest HIV testing site.discuss this news brief in our discussion forum
NIH Grant Supports HIV Vaccine Research at U.C. Santa Cruz
The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has awarded a $3.5 million grant for HIV/AIDS vaccine research to Phillip Berman, professor and chair of biomolecular engineering at the Jack Baskin School of Engineering at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
According to a September 9 press release, the new five-year grant will enable Berman's group to follow up on promising findings they reported in the August issue of the Journal of Virology. The researchers identified a novel structural element in an HIV coat protein that could be useful for vaccine development.
The focus of the research is on antibodies that are capable of neutralizing a wide range of HIV strains. According to the release, such "broadly neutralizing antibodies" are necessary to stop the virus because HIV is extremely variable, constantly evolving to evade the immune systems of infected individuals.
"One of the main hypotheses in HIV vaccine research is that if a vaccine could induce those broadly neutralizing antibodies, it would work. None of the current vaccines do that," Berman said. He further explained, "The antibodies have to be there before infection occurs. After the virus gets a foothold, it's too late."
Berman's lab, along with collaborators at Monogram Biosciences, developed a new method called "swarm analysis" to investigate the natural variations in the virus that emerge in the early stages of HIV infections.
Meanwhile, results of the trial of the RV 144 vaccine, that Berman invented at Genentech in the mid-1990s, and then evaluated in clinical trials at VaxGen, are expected to be announced in October at the AIDS Vaccine 2009 international conference in Paris. Berman said the research funded by the new grant will complement the data from the RV 144 trial.discuss this news brief in our discussion forum
Positively Aware “HIV Basics: What You Should Know” Available Now
The September/October issue of Positively Aware is available in print and is now online. This issue focuses on basic information about HIV, drugs used in treatment, nutrition, exercise, and topics relating to disclosure and stigma, finding the right health care provider, and dealing with the financial ramifications of living with HIV. Featured on the cover, and in a profile by Jeff Berry, is Jack Mackenroth of Project Runway fame, talking about his anti-stigma campaign “Living by Design.” This is a great resource for anyone who is newly-diagnosed or their care givers, and for those who may need a “refresher course” on HIV.
Copies are available at most AIDS service organizations, HIV specialist doctors’ offices, at TPAN, or sign up for a subscription, free to HIV-positive folks, at www.positivelyaware.com or by calling 773-989-9400.discuss this news brief in our discussion forum
