Tag Archives: HIV/AIDS

CNN: There’s A “Controversy” Over PrEP [VIDEO]

For World AIDS Day, CNN’s Sanjay Gupta today reported on PrEP, which is the daily usage of Truvada as an HIV preventive. CNN’s piece characterized PrEP as “controversial” – when in fact it has been endorsed by the CDC and virtually all HIV/AIDS activists and organizations. So you can guess where this “controversy” is REALLY coming from. Watch below.

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SHORT FILM: When AIDS Was Funny

WATCH THIS. Vanity Fair has posted a short film titled When AIDS Was Funny. The film compiles audio tapes of the homophobic mocking and belittling of gay people and people with AIDS that took place between Ronald Reagan spokesman Larry Speakes and the White House press pool. They write: Using never-before-heard audio tapes from three separate press conferences, in 1982, …

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President Obama Issues World AIDS Day Video

Last night President Obama issued his annual World AIDS Day proclamation which celebrates continuing advances and vows to pursue a cure for HIV. This afternoon the president follows up that message with a personal video. Watch below.

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Membership

ABOVE: At the 1985 Xmas party described below: Me, Michael, and Barney. Originally posted May 2004. Reposted for World AIDS Day. Michael didn’t look good. We were at his annual Christmas luau party. Tons and tons of people in the house and the backyard. Standing in his kitchen, wearing a grass skirt and a ridiculous Santa hat covered in sequins, …

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White House Issues World AIDS Day Proclamation

President Obama tonight issued his annual World AIDS Day proclamation. It reads: More than three decades ago, the first known cases of HIV/AIDS sparked an epidemic in the United States — ushering in a time defined by how little we knew about it and in which those affected by it faced fear and stigmatization. We have made extraordinary progress in the …

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amfAR Unveils Launch Of HIV Cure Institute: We Plan To Have The Scientific Basis For The Cure By 2020

Big news today from amfAR. Via press release: amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, today announced the establishment of the amfAR Institute for HIV Cure Research, an innovative collaborative enterprise based at UC San Francisco (UCSF). As the cornerstone of amfAR’s $100 million cure research investment strategy, the aim of the Institute will be to develop the scientific basis of …

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Pharma Douche Martin Shrekeli Reverses Plan To Lower Price Of HIV/AIDS Medication

Arstechnica reports: Turing Pharmaceuticals AG will not reverse its decision to raise the price of a decades-old drug, Daraprim, by more than 5,000 percent, backing out of previous statements that it would cut the cost by the end of the year. In an announcement on Tuesday, the company said that the list price of Daraprim, which jumped from $13.50 a …

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TRAILER: Countdown To Zero

Vice today released a second trailer for their coming documentary about the continuing search for an HIV vaccine and cure. Today’s trailer features legendary HIV/AIDS activist Peter Staley. The film debuts on HBO on World AIDS Day, December 1st, at 9PM.

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NEW YORK CITY: Leaders To Spend $6.6M On PrEP & HIV Post-Exposure Prophylaxis

Duncan Osbourne reports at Gay City News: Moving on the Plan to End AIDS, the City Council will spend $6.6 million to fund pre-exposure and post-exposure prophylaxis programs and efforts to aid people with HIV in staying on anti-HIV drugs so they remain non-infectious. “This initiative will help continue to provide programs and education to raise awareness of this devastating …

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TRAILER: Countdown To Zero

Airing two weeks from tonight on HBO. Clip recap: Twenty years ago, HIV/AIDS was a death sentence. Now, through advances in medication, it has become a largely manageable chronic disease – and there may finally be a cure on the horizon. VICE investigates recent breakthroughs in medical science to see how close we are to life without AIDS. Hosts Shane …

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Anti-Viral Injections Show Promise Against HIV

Seeking to make HIV treatment less dependent on adhering to a daily dosing regimen, researchers have found that an injection of anti-viral medications every two months is just as effective. Pink News reports: The trial backed by Johnson & Johnson as well as GlaxoSmithKlein, tested whether an injected drug taken once every eight weeks could effectively suppress HIV. The head …

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Elton John: Queen Elizabeth Could Undo Anti-Gay African Laws “With A Wave Of Her Hand” [VIDEO]

Today the Elton John AIDS Foundation announced a partnership with the federal government which will increase access to HIV medications in African nations which are historically anti-gay. Speaking to CNBC, Elton claimed that Queen Elizabeth could repeal anti-gay legislation in Commonwealth nations “with one wave of her hand.” CNBC reports: John added: “These laws come from … the Commonwealth. These …

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CALIFORNIA: Mandatory Condoms In Porn Measure Succeeds In Making Statewide 2016 Ballot

The Los Angeles Times reports: A California initiative that would require actors in adult films to wear condoms in sex scenes has qualified for the November 2016 ballot, officials said Wednesday. The measure was proposed by Michael Weinstein, president of the Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation, who said it is needed to provide statewide rules modeled on those adopted by …

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GLAAD & Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation Issue Celebrity-Filled PSA: Let’s Finish What We Started

Watch the clip below. Via press release: The PSA begins with Elizabeth Taylor’s historic and impassioned speech at the 1992 Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert as a framework to introduce a new generation to the modern realities of HIV and AIDS, as well as the tools we have to overcome them. It includes participation from Meredith Vieira, Whoopi Goldberg, Jonathan Groff, …

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Bernie Sanders Rejects Donation From Pharma Douche Martin Shkreli, Gives Money To AIDS Charity

Boston.com reports: Pharmaceutics CEO Martin Shkreli wanted to make a donation to Bernie Sanders’ campaign in order to get a meeting with the Vermont senator, according to Stat. The Sanders campaign said no thanks. They’ll be passing on the money to a Washington health clinic, and Shkreli—the so-called “most hated” man in America whose company, Turing Pharmaceuticals, raised the price …

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Nobel Winner: Complete HIV Remission Is Within Reach

Pioneering researcher Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, who shared the Nobel prize for identifying the virus that causes AIDS, is retiring. She says she regrets not having found a cure, but believes a complete remission from HIV infection is within reach. Via Reuters: “I am personally convinced that remission…is achievable. When? I don’t know. But it is feasible,” she told Reuters at her …

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WHO Greatly Expands PrEP Recommendations

The New York Times reports: Everyone who has H.I.V. should immediately be put on antiretroviral triple therapy and everyone at risk of becoming infected should be offered protective doses of similar drugs, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday as it issued new H.I.V. treatment and prevention guidelines. The guidelines increase by nine million the number of people who should …

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Gates Foundation Gives $6M To HIV Vaccine Study

The Gates Foundation has donated nearly $6M to a promising HIV vaccine study underway at Florida Atlantic University. Via University Press: The vaccine, created by Scripps Research Institute professor Michael Farzan, has showed consistently effective results after being tested on lab animals. The grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will help fund his research for the next four …

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NEW YORK: HRC Demands That AG Eric Schneiderman Investigate Price-Gouging Pharma CEO

Today the Human Rights Campaign sent a letter to New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman [photo] in which they call for an investigation of price-gouging by pharma CEO Martin Shkreli.  HRC head Chad Griffin writes: Daraprim is a lifesaving treatment for toxoplasmosis, a parasitic infection impacting patients with compromised immune systems including those who are pregnant or living with HIV. …

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Price-Gouging Pharma CEO Martin Shkreli: I’ll Lower The Cost Of That AIDS Drug

But he won’t say by how much. NBC News reports: The pharmaceutical company boss under fire for increasing the price of the drug Daraprim by more than 5,000 percent said Tuesday he will lower the cost of the life-saving medication. Martin Shkreli did not say what the new price would be, but expected a determination to be made over the …

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