Hiv Cure

US aid cuts leave South Africa's most vulnerable struggling for HIV drugs

On a warm evening in Johannesburg, the news spread like wildfire among sex workers: Within 24 hours, several nonprofit clinics providing free HIV services would be closing as President Donald Trump announced the United States was slashing foreign aid. Some South Africans living with, or at risk of, HIV secured supplies of life-saving drugs just in time. Others did not. Half a year later, the country with more people living with HIV than any other is struggling to treat its most vulnerable. Over 63,000 people were being treated in the 12 clinics across the nation that shut down. Up to 220,000 people have faced disruption to their daily HIV medication. South Africa's government has vowed it won't let the US withdrawal of about USD 427 million in support collapse its HIV program, the largest in the world. Sex workers, among the most vulnerable South Africans as their work is illegal, and transgender people spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation

Aurobindo Pharma to manufacture, supply long acting HIV treatment drug

Aurobindo Pharma on Tuesday said it will manufacture and supply the long-acting injectable HIV treatment cabotegravir across 133 countries. The Hyderabad-based drugmaker has been selected as one of the generic manufacturers under the expanded voluntary licensing agreement between the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) and ViiV Healthcare, the company said in a statement. The agreement allows Aurobindo to manufacture and supply the long-acting injectable HIV treatment across 133 countries, including several low and middle-income markets, it added. This update now includes long-acting cabotegravir (CAB LA) for HIV treatment, in addition to its earlier use for prevention only. The treatment offers an alternative to daily pills, allowing patients to receive just one injection every one or two months. "We are privileged to be part of the sub-license expansion from MPP and ViiV to develop, manufacture, and distribute generic CAB LA in select markets for the treatment of HIV-1, in addition to t

US aid cuts pause HIV vaccine research in S Africa, to have global impact

Just a week had remained before scientists in South Africa were to begin clinical trials of an HIV vaccine, and hopes were high for another step toward limiting one of history's deadliest pandemics. Then the email arrived. Stop all work, it said. The United States under the Trump administration was withdrawing all its funding. The news devastated the researchers, who live and work in a region where more people live with HIV than anywhere else in the world. Their research project, called BRILLIANT, was meant to be the latest to draw on the region's genetic diversity and deep expertise in the hope of benefiting people everywhere. But the $46 million from the US for the project was disappearing, part of the dismantling of foreign aid by the world's biggest donor earlier this year as President Donald Trump announced a focus on priorities at home. South Africa hit hard by aid cuts South Africa has been hit especially hard because of Trump's baseless claims about the targeting of the ..

Decades of AIDS vax research imperiled by Trump's withdrawal of US funding

The US cut HIV vaccine funding, forcing IAVI to halt work and lay off staff, while the South African Medical Research Council will receive only $9 mn of its planned $45 mn for multi-country trials

Lupin receives USFDA approval to market its generic HIV medications

Drug firm Lupin on Friday said it has received approval from the US health regulator to market a generic HIV medication in the US market. The company has received tentative approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) under the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) for Abacavir, Dolutegravir and Lamivudine tablets, the Mumbai-base drug maker said in a statement. The company's product is a generic equivalent of ViiV Healthcare Company's Triumeq PD tablets for oral suspension, it added. This product would be manufactured at the drug firm's Nagpur facility and will be supplied to low-and middle-income countries, it said. The fixed-dose combination of Abacavir 60 mg/Dolutegravir 5 mg/Lamivudine 30 mg tablets for oral suspension is a once-daily single-pill regimen, indicated for the treatment of HIV-1 infection in pediatric patients aged at least 3 months and weighing at least 6 kg. "The tentative approval from the USFDA for our Abacavir, Dolutegravir and

AIDS-related deaths down by 79%, new HIV infections by 44% in 2023: Nadda

Deaths from AIDS in the country came down by 79 per cent while HIV infections fell by 44 per cent in 2023 and the country is committed to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of eradicating AIDS by 2030, Union Health Minister JP Nadda said on Sunday.He was speaking at a function here on the occasion of World AIDS Day. Nadda said the renewed IDS response measures of 'test and treat' and universal viral load testing will be endorsed and AIDS (Prevention and Control) Act 2017 will be implemented in toto. India has worked out a formula of "95-95-95" in view of the target of eliminating AIDS by 2030, he added. "Ninety-five percent of the patients in the country should know that they are infected with HIV, 95 percent of the patients should get treatment and the "viral load" of 95 percent of the patients should be lessened by antiretroviral therapy medicines," he explained. At present, 81 per cent of patients know they are infected with HIV, 88 per cent patients are ...

Dr Reddy's, Hetero sign voluntary licenses with Gilead for HIV drug

Gilead Sciences first launched lenacapavir under the brand name Sunlenca in the United States and European markets in 2022. It is a first-in-class HIV-1 capsid inhibitor

Dr Reddy's ties up with Gilead to manufacture, commercialise HIV drug

Dr Reddy's Laboratories on Wednesday said it has tied up with Gilead Sciences for the manufacture and commercialisation of the HIV drug Lenacapavir in India and 120 other countries. The company has entered into a royalty-free non-exclusive voluntary licensing agreement with Gilead Sciences Ireland UC for the drug, the Hyderabad-based drug maker said in a statement. Lenacapavir is a US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) approved drug indicated for the treatment of human immunodeficiency virus a type 1 (HIV-1) infection in heavily treatment-experienced adults with multi-drug resistant HIV-1 infection failing their current antiretroviral regimen due to resistance, intolerance, or safety considerations. Additionally, Lenacapavir is currently under investigation for the prevention of HIV (PrEP) which is yet to be approved globally. Gilead Sciences first launched Lenacapavir under the brand name Sunlenca in the US and Europe markets in the year 2022. As per the agreement, Dr Reddy's w

US-based pharma giant Gilead Sciences wants HIV drug Lenacapavir patented

Gilead is seeking patents in India for the choline and sodium salt forms of lenacapavir

HIV medicine that costs $42,000 could be made for just $40 with profits

Lenacapavir drug hailed as 'the closest we have ever been to an HIV vaccine', is currently sold by US pharma major Gilead at Rs $42,250 for the first year

Inquiry report on UK's infected blood scandal to be revealed on Monday

The final report of the UK's infected blood inquiry will be published Monday, nearly six years after it began looking into how tens of thousands of people contracted HIV or hepatitis from transfusions of tainted blood and blood products in the 1970s and 1980s. The scandal is widely seen as the deadliest to afflict Britain's state-run National Health Service since its inception in 1948, with around 3,000 people believed to have died as a result of being infected with the HIV virus and hepatitis, an inflammation of the liver. The report is expected to criticise pharmaceutical firms and medical practitioners, civil servants and politicians, though many have already died given the passage of time. It's also set to pave the way to a huge compensation bill that the British government will be under pressure to rapidly pay out. Had it not been for the tireless campaigners, many of whom saw loved ones die decades too soon, the scale of the scandal may have remained hidden forever. This who

Delhi HC to decide cases concerning HIV positive individuals on priority

The Delhi High Court will take up and dispose of on priority basis the legal proceedings concerning an HIV positive person whose anonymity and confidentiality shall be strictly maintained. The practice directions' have been issued by the high court, on its administrative side, in compliance with the directions passed by the Supreme Court in a judgment on September 26, 2023. In compliance of the directions passed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in judgment dated September 26, 2023 in , Hon'ble the Acting Chief Justice has been pleased to issue following directions for compliance by all concerned. In any legal proceeding concerning or relating to an HIV-positive person, the courts shall take up and dispose of the proceeding on priority basis in terms of Section 34(2) of the HIV (Prevention and Control) ACT 2017, the practice directions issued through Delhi High Court Registrar General Kanwaljeet Arora on February 7 said. It further said that courts shall also ensure that the anonymity a

WHO urges partners to continue fostering collaboration to end AIDS by 2030

On World AIDS Day, WHO called upon member states, partners and communities in the Southeast Asia Region and around the world to continue fostering collaboration to address the challenges in ending the disease by 2030 and empower communities to lead in shaping the response forward. Globally, an estimated 39 million people are living with HIV. In 2022, around 1.3 million people acquired HIV and around 6,30,000 people died from AIDS-related causes, said Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, the WHO Regional Director for South-East Asia. In the South-East Asia Region, an estimated 3.9 million people are living with HIV, accounting for around 10 per cent of the global burden. In 2022, an estimated 1,10,000 people became newly infected with HIV and 85,000 people in the region died of AIDS-related causes. This accounted for over 13 per cent of the global burden of AIDS-related death, Dr Khetrapal Singh said. Over the past decade, the Southeast Asia Region had substantial progress with a remarkable .

Underdeveloped nations fighting drugmakers over access to TB, HIV drugs

South Africa, Colombia and other countries that lost out in the global race for coronavirus vaccines are taking a more combative approach towards drugmakers and pushing back on policies that deny cheap treatment to millions of people with tuberculosis and HIV. Experts see it as a shift in how such countries deal with pharmaceutical behemoths and say it could trigger more efforts to make lifesaving medicines more widely available. In the COVID-19 pandemic, rich countries bought most of the world's vaccines early, leaving few shots for poor countries and creating a disparity the World Health Organization called a catastrophic moral failure. Now, poorer countries are trying to become more self-reliant because they've realized after COVID they can't count on anyone else, said Brook Baker, who studies treatment-access issues at Northeastern University. One of the targets is a drug, bedaquiline, that is used for treating people with drug-resistant versions of tuberculosis. The pills are

Zydus Cadila receives tentative nod from USFDA to market two HIV drugs

The drug will be manufactured at the group's formulation manufacturing facility at the SEZ Ahmedabad

Strides Pharma Science arm gets USFDA nod for HIV treatment medicine

Strides Pharma Science said its step-down wholly-owned subsidiary, has received approval from the USFDA for Emtricitabine and Tenofovir Disoproxil Fumarate tablets, used to treat HIV

'Exciting but preliminary': Experimental therapy may have cured man of HIV

The case needs independent verification and it's way too soon to speculate about a possible cure, scientists cautioned

Antiviral drugs see demand surge in India, but segment declines 5.5%

Data from market research firm AIOCD-AWACS shows that sales of oseltamivir (common brand Tamiflu), used against the influenza virus and also for swine flu, went up by 35.8 per cent in April

Indian drug makers gear up to make Gilead's remdesivir for Covid-19 therapy

Domestic players will be free to price it; Dutch firm Mylan also to make the drug in India; no royalty for Gilead as yet

Covid-19: India receives 500,000 antibody testing kits from China

Government has received two types of kits from Guangzhou Wondfo and Zhuhai Livzon to see antibodies in Covid patients