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Leaders Attending Southern HIV/AIDS Conference Issue 'Call to Action' For Southern States
HIV/AIDS directors from 13 states and the District of Columbia meeting in Tampa, Florida, at the close of a conference on HIV/AIDS in the Southern United States released a "call to action" plan for the Southern states, detailing obstacles standing in the way of curbing the spread of HIV, the Miami Herald reports.
The challenges include a lack of access to services, increased rates of other sexually transmitted diseases, HIV/AIDS stigma and chronic shortages of drugs in treatment programs. Health officials attending the conference, which was sponsored by Florida AIDS Action, said that new HIV/AIDS cases reported in the last two years have "stretched" public health systems and drug programs in the region "beyond capacity." In addition, a severe shortage of health care providers and facilities has made the problem worse, particularly in rural areas, Robert Greenwald, a Massachusetts HIV/AIDS advocate, said (Robinson, Miami Herald, 12/5). According to CDC figures cited in the "Southern States Manifesto," written by HIV/AIDS directors from various states and presented at the two-day conference, more than 130,000 people in the South have AIDS, compared to about 100,000 in the Northeast, 36,000 in the Midwest and some 62,000 in the West. Still, the region is behind other areas of the nation in federal funding for HIV/AIDS programs, according to the AP/Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. Speaking Out Dr. Gene Copello, Florida AIDS Action executive director, said that Florida receives about 5% of the country's prevention funds, but has nearly 12% of the country's AIDS cases (La Corte, AP/Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, 12/5). He added that the epidemic in the South is "mirroring" the HIV/AIDS epidemic in some developing nations and "needs to be addressed" (Miami Herald, 12/5). "We intend to be very loud about it and very forceful because our people are dying all over the South," Copello said. He also said the group has developed a "twofold approach" that includes advocating for "fair funding" for Southern states and for a "core set of services that can be offered to anyone" with HIV or AIDS, according to the AP/Sun-Sentinel (AP/Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, 12/5). Last month, at the "Southern States Summit on HIV/AIDS & STDs," sponsored by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors, the foundation issued a report, titled HIV/AIDS and other Sexually Transmitted Diseases in the Southern Region of the United States: Epidemiological Overview, which found that the estimated number of new AIDS cases rose in the South between 2000 and 2001, while the number of new AIDS cases declined or stabilized in other U.S. regions. At the conference, the foundation also released a report, titled Sources of Coverage and Care for People with HIV/AIDS in the United States: Assessing Coverage in Southern States, that examined the financing and programs available to people living with HIV/AIDS in the region (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 11/13). FDA Approves Roche's Pegasys-Copegus Hepatitis C Combination Treatment
The combination regimen of interferon-alpha and ribavirin has been the traditional hepatitis C treatment for several years, but interferon-alpha must be injected three times per week. Pegasys, a long-lasting form of interferon, must be injected only once a week. Recent studies have shown that a combination regimen of ribavirin and Pegasys is more effective at lowering hepatitis C viral levels than treatment with ribavirin and interferon-alpha (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 10/17). The FDA's approval of Roche's Pegasys-Copegus combination treatment could put the company in position to challenge Schering-Plough's current "dominance" of the $1 billion market for hepatitis C treatments (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 11/19). Roche is also testing Pegasys to treat hepatitis B, Reuters/Houston Chronicle reports (Reuters/Houston Chronicle, 12/3). Fuzeon Troubles In related news, Roche on Tuesday said there have been no "problems producing" its experimental antiretroviral Fuzeon, despite such "speculation," Reuters reports (Reuters, 12/3). Fuzeon, co-developed with Durham, N.C.-based Trimeris, is one of a new class of fusion inhibitors, designed to be used in combination with other antiretroviral therapies and "is eagerly awaited" by HIV-positive people who have developed resistance to other antiretroviral drugs (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 11/19). The drug is "difficult to make" and the company said earlier this year that it would have to "ration supplies initially," according to Reuters. A Roche spokesperson said, "There is no new guidance. There is nothing to correct here. There is no new information. It is just speculation." He added, "We are waiting for new batches (of Fuzeon) to be evaluated so we can give clearer guidance for 2003, but this is still to come. We expect this either somewhat later this month or early January and this will allow us to calculate how many patients can be provided with the drug" (Reuters, 12/3). The FDA is currently reviewing Fuzeon, and the agency is scheduled to review the drug by March 16, 2003 (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 11/19). This summary is from the Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/hiv provided by kaisernetwork.org), a free health policy news summary and webcasting service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org by National Journal Group Inc. © 2002 by National Journal Group Inc. and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved |
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The FDA has approved Roche's Pegasys hepatitis C drug for use in combination with the antiviral drug ribavirin, Reuters/Houston Chronicle reports (Reuters/Houston Chronicle, 12/3). In October, the FDA approved the use of Pegasys, an improved interferon, by itself as a treatment for HCV.