A Day with HIV in America Cancer Drugs Found to Attack HIV
Quinn Signs Law to Provide Insurance for People with Pre-existing Conditions
Merck and Gates Foundation Join Forces to Support African Program
Benaissa Convicted in German Court
POSITIVELY AWARE is calling on you to help us with an exciting project! In commemoration of World AIDS Day, a photo essay entitled “A Day with HIV in America” will be published in the November/December issue of POSITIVELY AWARE and also on our dedicated website www.adaywithhivinamerica.com.
On September 21, take a photo, or have one taken, of something that expresses what your life with HIV is like on that day. Then send the photo by September 23, along with names and contact information for everyone who appears in the photo and information you’d like to be included in the caption, to artdirector@positivelyaware.com. Details, a release form to be signed by each person pictured, along with all technical requirements can be found at the website above.
We hope to get an amazing collection of snapshots of those living with and affected by HIV/AIDS across the country that will enable us to both show how those in the HIV community support each other, and help us put an end to the stigma that continues to fuel the pandemic.
A more detailed e-mail will be sent out soon with an explanatory letter you can send to your mailing list, the release form, and a flyer you can post in your office or meeting place.
We hope to see you on our pages!
Cancer Drugs Found to Attack HIV
According to a press release from the University of Minnesota on August 21, researchers at the University of Minnesota Academic Health Center have identified two drugs that, in combination, may be an effective treatment for HIV.
Decitabine and gemcitabine, the two drugs studied, are both FDA approved and currently used in pre-cancer and cancer therapy. Though results were shown only in mice, the drugs were found to eliminate HIV infection by causing the virus to “mutate itself to death,” dubbed by researchers as “lethal mutagenesis.”
Current HIV drugs focus on inhibiting virus replication, but this new drug combination forces the virus to do just the opposite—replicate beyond control, to the point of extinction.
“HIV's ability to mutate makes it difficult to target and treat,” said Louis Mansky, PhD, a molecular virologist and one of the researchers. “We wanted to take advantage of this behavior by stimulating HIV's mutation rate, essentially using the virus as a weapon against itself.”
Along with Mansky, molecular virologist Christine Clouser, PhD, of the Institute for Molecular Virology and School of Dentistry, as well as medicinal chemist Steven Patterson, PhD, from the Center for Drug Design, collaborated to carry out the research. The findings were recently published online in the current Journal of Virology.
This is a promising result in HIV research, because it’s the first time this approach has been used to attack the virus without causing toxic side effects. Researchers believe that if the approach is effective in large animal models, it will be much easier to expedite the development of the drugs for human use since they are already FDA approved. Koronis Pharmaceuticals is at work with an experimental drug, KP-1461, that uses the same mechanism, but it is still in clinical trials.
The U of M researchers found that the drug concentrations needed to eliminate HIV infection cause “no measureable cell toxicity and were effective against HIV cultures at concentrations well below the current levels used for cancer treatment.”
The researchers are now in the process of modifying the drugs to forms that can be absorbed by the human body when taken orally.
The study was funded by the Center for Drug Design, the U of M Academic Health Center, and the National Institutes of Health.
Quinn Signs Law to Provide Insurance for People with Pre-existing Conditions
On August 19, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn announced that Illinois residents who've been uninsured for at least six months would be able to start applying for a new federally funded health insurance program for people with “pre-existing” medical problems, including HIV/AIDS.
The program will provide coverage until Jan. 1, 2014, when the new federal law will bar insurers from denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions. Only legal residents and those who've been uninsured for at least six months will be eligible. Applicants must be able to show they've had trouble getting insurance because of a pre-existing medical condition. Enrollment in the Illinois Pre-Existing Plan (IPXP) will be first-come, first-served for eligible people who fill out their applications correctly. Coverage will begin on Sept. 1 for the first successful applicants.
The federal government has set aside $196 million for Illinois, enough to cover claims for an estimated 4,000 to 6,000 people. Many thousands more might be eligible—as many as 218,000 people, according to a 2008 U.S. Government Accountability Office report.
Monthly premiums will be from $111 to $653 depending on a person's age, where they live, and whether they use tobacco (younger non-smokers living outside Chicago pay less). Federal law requires that monthly premiums be no more expensive than similar coverage in Illinois.
The number of people enrolled will depend on the medical costs involved. According to Illinois Department of Insurance Director Michael McRaith, “If we have several thousand people who are in the midst of a fight against cancer, or similarly serious and expensive treatments, we'll be able to enroll fewer people.” On the other hand, if enrollees are mostly people with lower medical costs, more people can be included, he said.
“Although the program cannot cover every uninsured Illinoisan, it will provide important relief for many of those who have had the hardest time buying affordable health care coverage,” said AARP Illinois Senior State Director Bob Gallo in a statement.
Health Alliance Medical Plans, Inc. was chosen by the state to administer the coverage because they were the lowest bidder. At present, the IPXP will offer a PPO product with a $2,000 annual deductible and 80/20 cost sharing, with most per-visit co-pays at $15. Out-of-pocket limits will be $4,350 for medical (including the $2,000 deductible), $1,600 for pharmacy, with a maximum out-of-pocket limit of $5,950.
Forms can be filled out and submitted online at http://www.insurance.illinois.gov, or printed from the site and mailed. They also can be turned in at state? insurance department offices in Chicago and Springfield, or to the Health Alliance Medical Plans Inc. office in Urbana.
Merck and Gates Foundation Join Forces to Support African Program
In a press release from the Merck Company Foundation on August 24, it was announced that Merck and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation “are committing $60 million to support Botswana’s African Comprehensive HIV/AIDS Partnership (ACHAP). With today’s pledge, the Merck Foundation and the Gates Foundation’s total cash contributions now amount to $166.5 million. Merck will also continue the donation of its HIV medicines.”
A program created with and led by the Government of Botswana, ACHAP is one of sub-Saharan Africa’s oldest, most successful public-private partnerships. ACHAP has helped demonstrate how public-private partnerships might work to save the lives of the world’s poorest people infected with HIV. Today about 90 percent of Batswana (people from Botswana) living with HIV receive treatment, compared to less than 5 percent when the program began in 2001.
The new funding will continue the program's original efforts in treatment and care, but also will support the second phase initiatives to meet the current treatment needs of the 137,000 Batswana living with HIV and new patients enrolled in the second phase. According to the release, “The second phase initiatives include: the prevention of HIV, the critical need to treat people living with HIV for tuberculosis (TB) and the sustainability of the program to allow Botswana to successfully address HIV/AIDS within its own borders.”
“For nearly 10 years, Merck has been a partner in helping the Government of Botswana save the lives of thousands of people living with HIV and AIDS and we are confident our new funding will continue to contribute to the well-being of the country,” said Richard T. Clark, chairman and CEO of Merck.
“Our partners’ contributions, through funding, antiretroviral (ARV) medicine donations and medical expertise, have been absolutely essential to our ability to address the needs of Batswana living with HIV and AIDS,” said Themba Moeti, MD, managing director of ACHAP. “We look forward to strengthening our partnership as we enter our second phase and enhancing the successes of our first decade while responding to the challenges that remain and retaining the flexibility to address emerging issues.”
New prevention programs, particularly among young people ages 15 to 29, are critical to curbing the spread of HIV in Botswana in support of the government’s ambitious goal of zero new infections by 2016. The new funding will support the government in expanding new prevention efforts like safe male circumcision, while also supporting the inclusion of TB treatment with HIV services. TB is a leading cause of death for people with AIDS in Botswana.
Without a continued reduction in new HIV infections, Botswana’s treatment successes will become much more challenging to maintain. ACHAP’s second phase will support the expansion of key services to ensure the long-term sustainability of the important gains made in the last decade. The goal is for Botswana to become self-sustaining in its efforts to combat the HIV epidemic within its borders.
Benaissa Convicted in German Court
In a follow-up to last week’s E-update item about the arrest of German pop star Nadja Benaissa, it was reported from Darmstadt, Germany that Benaissa, a member of girl band No Angels, was given a two-year suspended prison sentence and 300 hours community service after she was convicted of causing bodily harm to her ex-boyfriend by having unprotected sex with him, though she knew she was HIV-positive. The encounter resulted in the man becoming HIV-positive. She faced a possible ten years behind bars.
Prosecutor Peter Liesenfeld said he thought the sentence was appropriate.
"We have to remember that she was a lot younger than she is now, she had a turbulent life, and the acts were committed a long time ago," he told Associated Press Television News. "I think a suspended sentence is justified."