Tag Archives: HIV

FDA Loosens Restrictions On Gay/Bisexual Blood Donors

The Associated Press reports: Gay and bisexual men in monogamous relationships can donate blood in the U.S. without abstaining from sex, under a federal policy finalized Thursday by health regulators. The Food and Drug Administration guidelines ease decades-old restrictions designed to protect the blood supply from HIV. The agency announced plans for the change in January and said this week …

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Aspiring Soldier Settles HIV Suit Against Pentagon

The Associated Press reports: A student at a military college who sued top Pentagon officials after he was deemed unfit for service because he tested positive for HIV has settled his lawsuit and plans to pursue his dream of becoming an Army officer, his lawyers said Tuesday. “I am incredibly grateful to be back on track to obtain a contract …

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Gilead Says Some Patients Got Counterfeit HIV Meds

The Associated Press reports: Gilead Sciences Inc said an unauthorized network of drug distributors and suppliers sold pharmacies more than $250 million of counterfeit versions of its HIV treatments over the last two years, endangering patients. The drugmaker said it found 85,247 bottles that had been tampered with or faked, including versions of its Biktarvy and Descovy treatments. In a …

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UCLA Reports Potential Breakthrough In HIV Science

City News Service reports: A UCLA-led team of researchers believe they may have found a way to kill HIV-infected cells inside infected individuals, opening a “new paradigm for a possible HIV cure in the future,” the study’s lead author said Monday. The breakthrough could potentially reduce, if not eliminate, the virus from the currently 38-million people around the world who …

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FDA Approves First Injectable Drug For HIV Prevention

Via press release from the FDA: Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Apretude (cabotegravir extended-release injectable suspension) for use in at-risk adults and adolescents weighing at least 35 kilograms (77 pounds) for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to reduce the risk of sexually acquired HIV. Apretude is given first as two initiation injections administered one month apart, and then every …

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NIH: Life Expectancy For Treated HIV Now Near Normal

Changing America reports: Since the HIV/AIDS pandemic exploded in the 1970s, no cure has been developed for the 1.2 million Americans living with the human immunodeficiency virus. But with today’s medical care, their life expectancy could be the same as any other American, according to a new study. Mortality rates for those entering HIV care dropped “dramatically” between 1999 and …

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NC Dental Clinic Must Pay $30K For HIV Discrimination

Via press release from the Justice Department: The Justice Department announced today that it has reached a settlement to resolve a claim that Night and Day Dental Inc. discriminated against a woman with HIV in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Night and Day Dental operates nine dental offices throughout North Carolina. This settlement is part of the …

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Fauci Optimistic On HIV Vaccine Due To COVID Work

The Hill reports: Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert, told OZY’s Carlos Watson that the work done on COVID-19 vaccines could help develop a vaccine for HIV. “I think the success that we’ve had with developing spectacularly successful COVID-19 vaccines might help us with the breakthrough of developing an HIV vaccine,” Fauci told Watson in response to a …

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BRITAIN: New HIV Infections Hit 20-Year Low In 2019

The Guardian reports: New diagnoses of HIV among gay and bisexual men have dropped to their lowest level in 20 years, according to Public Health England. A PHE report reveals that overall, across all genders and sexualities, the number of people with a new HIV diagnosis dropped by 10% from 4,580 cases in 2018 to 4,139 in 2019. There was …

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Injectable Drug More Effective For PrEP Than Truvada

The Washington Post reports: A long-acting drug injected every two months is more effective at preventing HIV than the pills most commonly used by people at risk of acquiring the infection, according to research released Tuesday at an international AIDS conference. The drug cabotegravir was tested on more than 4,500 cisgender men who have sex with men and transgender women …

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Appeals Court Win: Air Force Can’t Boot HIV+ Airmen

Via press release from Lambda Legal: Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upheld a lower court ruling in Roe & Voe v. Esper that halted efforts by the Trump administration to discharge members of the Air Force because they are living with HIV. The decision will allow two active-duty Airmen living with HIV, identified pseudonymously as …

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Junior: Having Sex With An HIV+ Person Can Kill You

The Independent reports: Another day, another tweet from a member of the Trump family that makes you want to scratch your eyeballs out. This time, Donald Trump Jr has followed in his father’s footsteps by posting a tweet that is being branded “disgusting”, “reprehensible” and “dangerous.” An LGBT+ news outlet posted an article entitled “What you stand to lose by …

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Pin-Sized PrEP Implant Could Block HIV For Full Year

USA Today reports: Earlier this week, Merck released the results of a small and early trial showing a prototype of a pin-sized implant could block HIV from infecting individuals for a full year. Through an upper-arm implant, the same device used to administer certain birth controls, doctors will likely be able to deliver “meaningful doses” of an experimental anti-HIV drug, …

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Border Patrol Chief Says Migrant’s HIV+ Status Justifies Family Separation As HIV Is Classified As Communicable

Chris Johnson reports at the Washington Blade: As President Trump continues to praise his administration’s plan to beat the HIV epidemic by 2030, a top Trump administration official says an immigrant’s HIV status is enough to justify family separation at the border. Brian Hastings, chief of Customs & Border Patrol, made the remarks during a House Judiciary Committee oversight hearing …

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Johnson & Johnson To Begin HIV Vaccine Testing

CNBC reports: Pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson is set to test an experimental HIV vaccine in the U.S. and Europe sometime this year, the company confirmed with CNBC. The experimental J&J vaccine is a mosaic-based preventative immunization that targets various strains of the HIV virus. The company is also conducting a phase 2 clinical trial for the vaccine in Africa, …

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HHS Ends Funding For Research Using Fetal Tissue, Curtailing Work On HIV, Cancer, Alzheimer’s, Austism

ABC News reports: The Trump administration said Wednesday it is ending medical research by government scientists using human fetal tissue, overriding the advice of scientists that there’s no other way to tackle some health problems and handing abortion opponents a major victory. Fetal tissue is used in research on HIV and childhood cancers, treatments that enlist the body’s immune system …

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HIV Study Confirms Undetectable = Untransmittable

The Guardian reports: An end to the AIDS epidemic could be in sight after a landmark study found men whose HIV infection was fully suppressed by anti-retroviral drugs had no chance of infecting their partner. The success of the medicine means that if everyone with HIV were fully treated, there would be no further infections. Among nearly 1,000 male couples …

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CDC Report: PrEP Usage Climbing But Still Far Too Low

NBC News reports: Thirty-five percent of gay and bisexual men at high risk of HIV infection were using PrEP, or pre-exposure prophylaxis, the daily pill that prevents HIV infection, in 2017, according to data released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2014, just 6 percent of these men used PrEP. However, despite the nearly 500 percent …

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Second Man Ever “Cured” Of HIV Infection

The New York Times reports: For just the second time since the global epidemic began, a patient appears to have been cured of infection with H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS. The news comes nearly 12 years to the day after the first patient known to be cured, a feat that researchers have long tried, and failed, to duplicate. The …

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Pentagon Ordered To Halt Discharge Of HIV+ Airmen

Via press release from Lambda Legal: Today, a federal judge ordered the U.S. Department of Defense and Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan to halt discharge proceedings against HIV-positive members of the U.S. Air Force. The order came in the case of Roe and Voe v. Shanahan, filed by Lambda Legal and OutServe-SLDN, with partner law firm Winston & Strawn, …

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