Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections

Study addresses one of the biggest challenges with HIV preventive drug.

Kathleen Squires, MD, announces positive trial results for an investigational HIV drug.

Two-drug HIV regimen performs well against three- or four-drug regimens.

At CROI 2017, John W. Ward, MD, CDC, explained his team has been concentrating on one particular health effect: transmission of hepatitis C from mother-to-child at the time of birth. This is showing them increases in children now becoming infected with hepatitis C, so it’s a growing problem among young people and their children.

We've had a 150% increase in the number of new cases of hepatitis C in the country, and almost all of those cases are among persons less than 30 years of age," John W. Ward, MD, of CDC said.

"We have drugs now that used to take one pill to several pills a day for 2-3 months, you can cure 95% of people living with hepatitis C. The issue is getting those persons identified who are living with this silent infection."

A much-anticipated investigational HIV drug has phase 2 results.

Chronic kidney disease developed in association with exposure to antiretrovirals in people with initially normal levels of estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was not limited to increased incidence immediately after starting therapy but in fact increased over time and exposure.

Tenofovir alafenamide, which results in 90% lower circulating plasma tenofovir than standard tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, is associated with similar virologic response rates as the standard regimen, but with an improved safety profile.

Combination treatment with daclatasvir and asunaprevir plus interferon/ribavirin had high success rates in a 24-week clinical trial for treatment of hepatitis C in patients coninfected with HIV.

An interferon/ribavirin-free pill that combines two drugs to treat patients with certain genotypes of hepatitis C who are also infected with HIV was found to be highly effective in a 12-week trial, clearing the hepatitis C virus from almost all the patients involved.

Novel second-generation HIV-1 maturation inhibitor shows favorable antiviral activity and safety profile in HIV-1, subtype B-infected subjects

Study results show that treatment with atorvastatin lowers LDL-cholesterol levels and reduces the volume of noncalcified and high-risk plaques in HIV-infected patients with subclinical atherosclerosis.

Cultural barriers, poor treatment adherence, and other factors thwart efforts to provide effective anti-HIV acquisition measures for women in Africa.

A high dose of rifampin and moxifloxacin in combination with standard drug treatment could cut the length of time needed to successfully treat patients for tuberculosis.

Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a strategy with significant historical precedent in the infectious disease field. Applied to HIV prevention, at-risk individuals would take PrEP to protect against HIV acquisition in case of any planned or unplanned exposure, potentially permitting HIV prophylactic control by the uninfected individual.

Bristol-Myers Squibb today announced that its Phase III clinical trial of a combination product daclatasvir-sofosbuvir showed dramatic cure rates for patients infected with both HIV and Hepatitis C. The results of the trial, known as ALLY-2, were presented at the 2015 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Seattle, WA.

Disappointing study results showed that precoital vaginal gel containing tenofovir does not prevent HIV acquisition in women, in part because of poor adherence during the clinical trial.

The high cure rate associated with new drugs approved to treat chronic hepatitis C has stirred debate about the relevance of early diagnosis and treatment of the acute stage of this infectious liver disease.

The future of HIV treatment may include decentralized testing and self-testing, treatment optimization, improved diagnostics, home-delivered antiretroviral therapy, and other advances.

Today, there are multiple combinations of interferon-free treatments that have efficacy rates of 90% or higher and are better tolerated with fewer severe side effects than previous interferon-based therapies.

Study results show that a regimen of three antiretroviral drugs taken during pregnancy significantly reduces the rate of mother-to-child HIV transmission.

Favipiravir, an experimental drug to treat the deadly Ebola virus, appeared to help some patients in Guinea with the disease but not others, according to results of the trial released at the 2015 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections held this week in Seattle.

The Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa led to a decline in the number of people seeking general outpatient services and as a result caused a drop in HIV testing and enrollment of new patients who are HIV positive, a new study suggests.