Studies of abacavir suggest no distinguishing benefit for abacavir compared to other currently available marketed therapies. The drug is clearly active against HIV in a variety of different patient groups; however, no evidence suggests clinically greater utility than existing nucleoside…
Third Non-Nuke Receives FDA Imprimatur and Promises to Revolutionize Triple Cocktail Mix Teratogenicity remains a concern On Friday September 18, the FDA granted accelerated approval to DuPont Pharmaceuticals' efavirenz, also known as Sustiva, a potent non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor which…
Conference Circuit Ingénu and Self-Appointed Apothecaire Dispenses Bitter Tonic at Congress' Close Word of 'a serious malaise' As part of the "rapporteur" element of this year's world AIDS congress, 12 minute summaries of each of the four tracks (A=Basic Science;…
One Part Aged Innovation, Two Parts Hubris: Is Remune Merely Reheated '93 Berlin Fare? Memories of mock apple pie Just six months ago, when the whole eradication thing came crashing down on us like some rickety Times Square scaffolding, the…
Like last year's discovery of the gag cleavage site mutation for the protease inhibitors (which this year investigators from Virco reported to be found in up to 55% protease resistant clinical isolates), this year saw several papers reporting a 2-3…
Geneva "New Agents" Sessions Betray Dearth of Interest in Imaginative (or Costly) Drug Development Everything new is old again What is becoming clearer and clearer as these national and international meetings accumulate post-Vancouver is the need for new antiretroviral therapies…
Crypto Treatment Hopes Dashed as Sloppy, Divisive Unimed Fails to Provide Clean Data -- or Proof of Efficacy Unimed's ugly ultimatum On May 6th, the FDA’s Antiviral Drugs Advisory Committee met to consider an application for approval of Unimed Pharmaceuticals’…
Jubilation, and Skepticism, Greet Announcement of First Phase III Trial of an AIDS Vaccine Watershed -- or Waterworld? This June, the FDA gave the go-ahead to VaxGen, Inc., a subsidiary of Genentech, the biotechnology firm, to conduct the first phase…
Veteran Uptown Metabolic Trouble Shooter Argues Crix Belly, Buffalo Hump Are Not What They Seem The RU-486 fix As part of TAG's new monthly meeting format (first Tuesday of each month at the Michael Callen/Audrey Lourde Community Health Center, 356…
Mutinous Rumblings of Pill Popping Public Prompts Drug Outfits' Focus on User-Friendly Dosing Schemes IC50 be damned? Flying back from Vancouver (coach) nearly 2 years ago to the day, Pulitzer prize winning journalist Laurie Garrett -- after an understandable rant…