AIDS Activism, Boehringer Ingelheim, and the Broken Social Contract
Publication • 2006by Mark Harrington Remarks at Boehringer Ingelheim Symposium “HIV: From Yesterday to Tomorrow / HIV: da ieri in poi” Sheraton Golf Parco de’Medici 6 April 2006 Rome * [Note: This is a revised and expanded version of remarks I gave yesterday at the Boehringer Ingelheim symposium on HIV past and future. The two-day symposium is…
TB Transmission in Healthcare Settings
TAGline • 2006By Theo Smart In all the news and hype about the cases of extensively drug resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, there has been surprisingly little discussion about how and where many of the people acquired the XDR-TB infections. “The evidence, I think, clearly points to nosocomial transmission of a very lethal organism,”…
Editorial: What’s Next?
TAGline • 2006Leadership Lacking in Move From 3×5 to Universal Access By Mark Harrington The past year saw a number of post mortems about the World Health Organization’s “3×5” initiative to support countries in treating at least 50% of their HIV-infected populations in need of antiretroviral therapy. These commentaries ranged from almost gleeful schadenfreude, to a detailed…
Lactic Acidosis, 2005
Publication • 2005What is it? The term lactic acidosis describes high levels of lactate in the blood. Lactate is a by-product of the breakdown of sugar in the body. Although lactic acidosis is very rare, people who develop it can become dangerously ill, or even die. Lactic acidosis is one of several conditions possibly caused by damage…
Cell Therapy aka Therapeutic “Vaccine” Surprise Announcement for World AIDS Day
TAGline • 2004By Mike Barr Even the researchers admit any definitive conclusions must await more rigorous investigation. But on the eve of World AIDS Day the news of a possible novel, less onerous, and much more affordable approach to the treatment of HIV infection splashed across news sites worldwide. (Well, more in Africa, Asia and Europe than…
TDM, Stat! More Mixes Nixed By Concentration Preoccupations
TAGline • 2004More Mixes Nixed By Concentration Preoccupations By Yasmin Halima and Rob Camp Statin Strength Relative Potency of the HMG-CoA Reductase Inhibitors (a.k.a. Statins) Drug Daily Dose Relative Potency* Fluvastatin (Lescol) 60 mg 1 Pravastatin (Pravachol) 60 mg 2 Lovastatin (Mevacor) 20 mg 3 Simvastatin (Zocor) 10 mg 6 Atorvastatin (Lipitor) 5 mg 12 Rosuvastatin (Crestor) NA NA * Relative to…
Checkmate: French African Study Offers Critical Challenge to Generics Obstructionists
TAGline • 2004French African Study Offers Critical Challenge to Generics Obstructionists By Mike Barr Railing Against Randall Tobias As if there were ever any legitimate doubt, it is now official: the three-in-one generic HAART pill (“Triomune,” manufactured in India by the huge generic outfit Cipla) has proved just as safe and effective as its branded components: nevirapine,…
2004 Pipeline Report
Pipeline • 2004February 2004 By Rob Camp Not so fast! Where’s my pipeline? Pipelines are almost as delicate and fragile as the ecosystems they go trampling through. Oft times the way to get from the beginning to the end is not a straight line. Although that does remain the quickest way geometrically, there may be other factors…
Treble Damages: Vaccine Scientists Struggle to Come to Grips With the Field’s “Berlin”
TAGline • 2004Vaccine Scientists Struggle to Come to Grips With the Field’s “Berlin” By Richard Jefferys Technologically Challenged? The AIDS Vaccines 2004 Conference was held from August 30-September 1 in Lausanne, Switzerland, the first of these meetings to be held outside the US (the first two were in Philadelphia in 2001 and New York City in 2003).…
The Agony of Bangkok: Thai Activist Exhorts Conference Crowd to Stand Firm Against U.S. Patent Regime and “Masks of Fake Concern”
TAGline • 2004Thai Activist Exhorts Conference Crowd to Stand Firm Against U.S. Patent Regime and “Masks of Fake Concern” By Paisan Suwannawong “Trading Away Health” The following is the text of an address delivered by Thai AIDS Treatment Action Group director Paisan Suwannawong at the opening ceremony of the 15th International AIDS Conference which took place in…