FDA Update Safety Information On HIV Drug Victrelis Boceprevir
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is updating information on Victrelis (boceprevir). The drug is used as a hepatitis C (HCV) protease inhibitor. It is combined with various ritonavir-boosted human immunodeficiency virus ( HIV ) protease inhibitors. The FDA is stating that it cannot recommend use of the drug at this time, because it appears to reduce effectiveness of other medications and has been seen to cause HCV and HIV to increase in the bloodstream. This is known as the viral load, and obviously leads to the diseases becoming more potent and aggressive.
Study Shows Poverty Undercuts Otherwise Major Gains In HIV Treatment
In a groundbreaking study published last year, scientists reported that effective treatment with HIV medications not only restores health and prolongs life in many HIV-infected patients, but also curtails transmission to sexual partners up to ninety-seven percent. However, a new study by UCSF scientists shows that lack of basic living needs severely undercuts these advances in impoverished men. The new research builds on a 2010 finding by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showing that poverty is the single biggest factor linked to HIV infection in heterosexuals living in inner-city neighborhoods.
Infant Size, Birth Weight Not Affected By Anti-HIV Drug Use During Pregnancy
Infants born to women who used the anti-HIV drug tenofovir as part of an anti-HIV drug regimen during pregnancy do not weigh less at birth and are not of shorter length than infants born to women who used anti-HIV drug regimens that do not include tenofovir during pregnancy, according to findings from a National Institutes of Health network study. However, at 1 year of age, children born to the tenofovir-treated mothers were slightly shorter and had slightly smaller head circumference - about 1 centimeter each, on average - than were infants whose mothers did not take tenofovir.