Tuberculosis Drug Development Hobbles Forward
Pipeline • 2014July 2014 By Erica Lessem Introduction After forty years without new approved drug classes, tuberculosis (TB) treatment has recently advanced with the approval of two new compounds to treat multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB): delamanid and bedaquiline.1,2,3 Yet with limited access to these drugs, and with no data on how they can be used to shorten or…
Research Toward a Cure and Immune-Based and Gene Therapies
Pipeline • 2014Update July 18, 2014 Disappointing news regarding the “Mississippi baby” case described in this chapter was announced on July 10th by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). Viral load rebounded to detectable levels, dashing hopes that a cure had been achieved, and the child has been restarted on antiretroviral therapy. The IMPAACT…
Introduction and Executive Summary
Pipeline • 2014July 2014 By Polly Clayden and Mark Harrington INTRODUCTION Last year we wrote: [Getting] the best drugs to the most people as quickly as possible… requires that the compounds and combination products be: Discovered and developed in a high-quality research program; Approved by a national or multinational regulatory authority; Recommended by national or multinational guidelines…
Activists Urge CDC Withdraw Ebola Travel Restrictions for Asymptomatic People
Letters • 2014We write as professionals, activists, and public health researchers who have worked to combat AIDS and other infectious diseases in the United States and around the world for over three decades.
An Activist’s Guide to Delamanid (Deltyba)
Publication • 2014Tuberculosis (TB) continues to kill over a million people each year, and multidrug-resistant (MDR) TB is a growing problem with few treatment options. In April 2014, delamanid was approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for the treatment of TB, becoming only the second new drug from a new drug class (after bedaquiline) to receive such approval in over forty years.
Treatment Action Group Commends Governor Cuomo for Launching Historic New York State Plan to End AIDS
Statement / Press • 2014Treatment Action Group (TAG) applauds Governor Andrew M. Cuomo for his full support of a historic community-developed plan to end the AIDS epidemic in New York State by 2020, as announced this morning by the Governor’s office and reported in today’s edition of the New York Times (“Cuomo Plan Seeks to End New York’s AIDS Epidemic,” Anemona Hartocollis, page A18). With this bold initiative, New York State—long the epicenter of the nation’s HIV epidemic—becomes the first jurisdiction anywhere in the world to publicly declare a goal of ending AIDS as an epidemic with the launch of a comprehensive effort to end AIDS deaths and halt new infections by employing state-of-the-art testing, preventive technologies, treatment, and supportive services.
Letter Urging UNITAID to Prioritize HIV/HCV Coinfection
Letters • 2013TAG and 134 other organizations sent this letter to underscore the need for a swift response from UNITAID to hepatitis C virus (HCV) coinfection; delays will cost lives and impede scale-up when more effective and tolerable therapies are available.
Retrofitting for Purpose: Treatment Optimization
Pipeline • 2013June 2013 By Polly Clayden Last year’s Pipeline Report saw the addition of a new chapter exploring research into antiretroviral treatment optimization. This strategy includes the optimization of approved compounds, and possible future opportunities with those in late-stage development. This 2013 chapter is largely an update from the original one, as the goals and target…
Preventive Technologies, Research Toward a Cure, and Immune-Based and Gene Therapies
Pipeline • 2013January 2014 Update Research Toward a Cure At the close of 2013 there was another update from Timothy Henrich about the Boston area stem cell transplant cases, revealing that the respite from HIV replication was relatively short-lived. Henrich reported in a statement that HIV viral load ultimately became detectable again in both individuals, after 12…
The Pediatric Antiretroviral Pipeline
Pipeline • 2013June 2013 By Polly Clayden The last Pipeline Report described a bumper year for pediatric antiretroviral approvals. This one reports after a year in which new approvals were fewer and far between. Although the pipeline for children continues to look promising, pediatric investigational programs mostly sauntered along, with only two new United States Food and…