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February 15, 2009)
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Saturday February 14, 4:40 pm ET
The company's chief executive, Andrew Witty, also is proposing that drug companies, nonprofit groups and others donate their patents related to neglected tropical diseases to a common pool that could be used to speed development of new drugs, the Wall Street Journal said.
Witty said prices will be cut for the poorest countries so that they are no higher than 25 percent of the price in developed countries, according to the report.
Glaxo, the second biggest drug maker by sales, generates about $43 million annually in revenue from those countries. About $1.5 million to $2.5 million would be generated for the clinics, Witty told the Journal.
HIV drugs are already sold at not-for-profit prices in those countries, but the prices will be cut if the drugs aren't already sold at prices below the threshold of 25 percent, reports said.
Treatments for hepatitis B, genital herpes, malaria and asthma are expected to be among those affected by the plan.
Witty told the Journal that Glaxo will not contribute its HIV patents to the pool. The company believes there already is innovation in HIV medicines because of the profit that can be made in Western markets.
Wed Feb 11, 11:30 PM
A group of bacteria causes periodontal
disease -- a chronic inflammation that erodes bony structure in the gum --
posing a threat to the teeth and the entire body, the researcher said.
"They produce a large amount of butyric
acid, which smells like socks you wore for a long time," said Kuniyasu
Ochiai, professor who chairs the Microbiology Department at Tokyo-based
The acid, which can also exist in rancid
butter, hinders a kind of enzyme called HDAC that blocks HIV from proliferating,
Ochiai told AFP.
In-vitro experiments have shown that the
virus in two kinds of cells related to the immune system rapidly proliferates
after given culture fluid containing the gum disease-causing bacteria and
butyric acid they produced, he said.
"Serious periodontal disease could lead
to the development (of AIDS) among HIV-positive people... although the
probability largely depends on individual physical strength," Ochiai said.
"There are fears that even those whose
were unaware that they had contracted HIV could develop the epidemic once they
have periodontal disease," he said, underscoring the importance of oral
health care.
Previous research has shown that gum disease
is linked to diabetes and heart disease but it is the world's first finding that
it activates HIV, Ochiai said.
The study will be published in the March
issue of the
The research team also plans to confirm the
finding in tests on animals, he said.
The study has been led by Ochiai as well as
Takashi Okamoto, molecular biology professor at
ATLANTA – An experimental vaginal gel has shown some promise in preventing infection from the AIDS virus — the first study to offer hope that a microbicide may soon join the medical arsenal in the international battle against HIV, scientists announced Monday.
The results were not conclusive in this preliminary study, but they were welcome news considering the failure of other similar products. The multi-country study suggests a gel made by Massachusetts-based Indevus Pharmaceuticals Inc. cut HIV infection to a slight degree, a researcher said Monday at a medical conference.
Scientists have been trying to develop gels and other microbicides for women to use as protection in parts of the world where their partners may refuse to use condoms.
"This is the first study that now shows we have a promising candidate," said Salim Abdool Karim, the South African researcher who presented the results.
About 3,100 women participated in the study, which was designed mainly to test whether it was safe. The women were divided into four groups. One-quarter of them used the Indevus gel, which is supposed to block the AIDS virus from attaching to certain white blood cells.
Another quarter were put on a gel made by Baltimore-based ReProtect Inc. The rest were given a placebo gel, or no gel at all.
All the women were counseled to have their partners use condoms. The study was done in South Africa, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe and the United States, and was funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
Researchers found that women who used the Indevus-made gel had a 30 percent lower rate of HIV infection than the other women in the study. But the difference was not statistically significant, meaning the results could have occurred by chance.
Health officials say larger studies are needed to better assess effectiveness. Such a study of the Indevus gel, involving 9,400 African women, is to conclude in August.
The results were presented at a medical conference on retroviruses in Montreal.
Wed Feb 11, 2009 1:55pm
EST
By David Douglas
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Patients
infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, who fail to show up for scheduled
clinic appointments during their first year of treatment are more likely to die
over the long term than patients with perfect attendance, a new study shows.
"For HIV care providers, missed visits
shortly after establishing outpatient care serve as a marker identifying
patients at higher risk for poor clinical outcomes -- patients who may require
closer monitoring," study leader Dr. Michael J. Mugavero told Reuters
Health.
Even after controlling for immune system
function at the outset and HIV drug therapy in the first year of care, patients
who missed visits had more than twice the rate of death during follow-up
compared to those who attended all their scheduled appointments.
The study by Mugavero and colleagues at the
The mortality rate for patients who made all
scheduled visits was 1 per 100 persons per year compared to 2.3 per 100 persons
per year in those with missed visits.
Furthermore, the increased risk of death was
similar whether patients had missed only 1, or 2 or more visits.
"Considering tens of thousands of
individuals are newly diagnosed with HIV infection in the US annually, and the
high frequency of missed visits in the first year of care -- which was
associated with over a two-fold increase in mortality in our study --
extrapolation of our findings to the general population level has profound
public health implications," concluded Mugavero.
SOURCE: Clinical Infectious Diseases,
January 2009.
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Governments must do more to raise awareness and curb rising incidences of chronic hepatitis B and C, diseases that affect more than 500 million people in the world, a leading expert on the disease said on Thursday.
Both can cause permanent damage to the liver, including cirrhosis, or scarring, and liver cancer if they are not properly controlled. They result in a combined 1.5 million deaths a year.
"Governments are absolutely not doing enough," said Charles Gore, president of the World Hepatitis Alliance, a group representing hepatitis patients in many parts of the world.
"It's one of those circular problems. Awareness is low, so it's not on the priority list. Funds are not put into it, there is very little advocacy and nobody is doing anything to raise awareness.
"We are talking 500 million people with hepatitis B or C, with 1.5 million deaths annually. HIV is 33 million (number of people infected) and 2.1 million deaths. It's the same ballpark in terms of mortality, but in terms of awareness, it is nowhere."
Hepatitis B is endemic in parts of Asia and Africa, and the chief mode of transmission is from mother to child.
Worldwide, there are 360 million hepatitis B carriers and up to 130 million of those are in China. Between 10-17 percent of the Chinese population are carriers, depending on the area.
Worldwide, there are 170 million people with chronic hepatitis C, which is mostly transmitted through needle sharing. About 150,000 new cases occur annually in the United States and in Western Europe, and about 350,000 in Japan.
Citing the example of Britain, Gore said the country had no figures on hepatitis B, but that 5,000 people were being treated for hepatitis C, with up to 15,000 new infections a year.
"Prevalence is increasing, which shows we are not getting this awareness out there and changing people's behavior," Gore said ahead of a hepatitis conference in Hong Kong over the weekend.
Nancy Leung, a hepatitis specialist doctor in Hong Kong, said more needed to be done to educate the public on the importance of vaccination for newborn babies, who must receive three jabs - immediately after birth, at one month and at sixth months.
While an increasing number of countries have universal vaccination, coverage is not full or is inefficient.
"If the mother doesn't see the importance, they don't bring the child back (in 6 months) and it is ineffective vaccination even if the system is in place," Leung said.
(Editing by Bill Tarrant)