HIV Care Providers Applaud Congress for Extension of Ryan White CARE Act
Senate Passes Hate Crimes Prevention Act
Formatech, Inc. Donates Services to Formulate and Fill Geovax’s HIV/AIDS Vaccine
Feelings of Stigmatization May Result in Negative Health Outcomes for HIV-positive People
HIV Care Providers Applaud Congress for Extension of Ryan White CARE Act
Last week, medical providers and social service agencies on the front lines of HIV care applauded both houses of the U.S. Congress for extending the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program. Passage of this legislation helps to ensure that more than 500,000 low-income, uninsured, or underinsured people living with HIV/AIDS have access to lifesaving care. The bill passed the House floor on October 21 by a vote of 408 to 9. The Senate passed their version of the same bill by unanimous consent on October 19 and it is now ready for President Obama’s signature.
Michael S. Saag, M.D., FIDSA, HIV Medicine Association (HIVMA) chair-elect, said,
"As HIV clinicians and researchers, many of whom have been providing HIV care since the mid-1980s, it is gratifying to see so many of our patients benefiting from the current treatment approaches, especially compared with the heartbreaking patient outcomes we saw earlier in the pandemic. These remarkable outcomes simply would not be possible without support from the Ryan White Program. We thank Congress for extending this vital program for four years, and we call on the president to quickly sign this legislation to ensure that our patients have access to the care they need."
The Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act of 2009 would authorize a 5% annual increase in funding for the program, which provides medical care and other services for individuals who otherwise would likely go without care. Especially with lawmakers working on health care reform legislation, the extension of the Ryan White Program is vital to ensuring there are no gaps in coverage or access to care for those living with HIV/AIDS as reforms are implemented nationwide. In addition, Ryan White programs already in place may provide a good example of the “medical home” model of care favored by many who see it as an important component of health care reform.
In a related development, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi failed to include a provision in the Ryan White Extension Act which would have permanently protected San Francisco's federal HIV/AIDS funding. The city has lost AIDS funding since the 2006 reauthorization of the act, which shifted money to rural areas and places with high HIV rates.
Pelosi was attempting to secure separate funding through an appropriations process to mitigate the city's loss of more than $5 million to combat HIV/AIDS. A proposed House appropriations bill could restore about $5.3 million to San Francisco, a Pelosi aide said.
Pelosi, while praising passage of the extension of the Ryan White Act, criticized Senate Republicans for objections that took away San Francisco's funding.
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Senate Passes Hate Crimes Prevention Act
On October 22, the U.S. Senate voted 68-29 to approve groundbreaking legislation that will expand the scope of federal hate-crimes law. The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act makes it a federal crime to assault an individual because of his or her actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. The bill is named for Matthew Shepard, a gay teenager in Wyoming, who died in October 1998 after being kidnapped, severely beaten, and left tied to a fence, and James Byrd, Jr., an African-American who was beaten, chained to the back of a pick-up truck, and dragged for miles in Jasper, Texas in June of 1998. The legislation now awaits President Obama’s signature.
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Formatech, Inc. Donates Services to Formulate and Fill Geovax’s HIV/AIDS Vaccine
On October 19, Formatech, Inc. announced that GeoVax Labs, Inc.'s HIV/AIDS vaccine will be the first clinical candidate that is formulated and filled under its Fillanthropy Program. The production run is scheduled to be completed in January 2010.
According to a press release, under this program, Formatech will donate the services required to aseptically fill and finish one lot of the vaccine for use in support of GeoVax's upcoming clinical trials.
“We're excited to have the opportunity to work with GeoVax on this program,” said Jeffrey Bernard, Formatech's Director of Business Development. “The prevention, and eventual treatment, of HIV-1 certainly is a worthy cause. We're pleased to donate our services for this beneficial program and we wish GeoVax continued success with this promising vaccine.”
The vials containing the GeoVax DNA vaccine will be frozen to be used in future trials.
“This lot should allow us enough vaccine for upcoming preventative and therapeutic clinical trials," stated Robert McNally, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer, adding, "Additionally, as a thank you for this donation and in keeping with Formatech's philosophy behind their program, GeoVax will contribute a portion of this savings to a HIV/AIDS charity, to be named at a later date. Support for a vaccine within the HIV/AIDS community is strong, the need is vast and our commitment to developing a therapeutic and preventative vaccine is steadfast."
This news follows the controversy over a Phase 1 safety trial of a GeoVax preventative vaccine that was proposed to take place at Chicago’s CORE Center and which was supported by Cook County Board President Todd Stroger before being rejected by the CORE Center over concern about potential negative effects the protocol could pose to participants.
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Feelings of Stigmatization May Result in Negative Health Outcomes for HIV-positive People
In a press release from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, it was reported that a study published in the October issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine found that “a large number of HIV-positive individuals who reported feeling stigmatized also reported poor access to care or suboptimal adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART).”
Those living with HIV know the psychological toll stigma and discrimination can exact, but this research suggests it can result in quantifiably negative health outcomes. According to the release, “Researchers found that HIV stigma was one of the strongest predictors of poor access to medical care and that both HIV stigma and poor mental health predicted suboptimal adherence to medication.” In fact, individuals who experienced high levels of internalized stigma were found to be four times as likely as those who didn't to report poor access to medical care and three times as likely to report suboptimal adherence to HIV medications.
“We were surprised to find that in our models, experiencing high levels of internalized HIV stigma was one of the strongest predictors of poor access to medical care, even after controlling for sociodemographics such as gender, race and ethnicity, income, insurance status, and clinical variables such as T-cell count and years since HIV diagnosis,” said the study's lead investigator, Dr. Jennifer Sayles, an assistant professor of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and medical director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health's Office of AIDS Programs and Policy.
The study is available online at www.springerlink.com/content/71h5331844161x75/fulltext.pdf.
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If you’ll be attending the U.S. Conference on AIDS in San Francisco, October 29-31, be sure to look for the Positively Aware/Test Positive Aware Network exhibit at Booth #178. Copies of our latest issues, as well as a limited number of the 2009 HIV Drug Guide will be available. Drop by and say hello!
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