Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Anal Sex Pill Pushed in Gay Men Study to Stop HIV

In the never-ending, and thus far fruitless effort to make deviant sexual behavior harmless, researchers are hawking a new extremely expensive alternative to failure-ridden condoms for homosexual men: take medication orally, then engage in anal sex, then orally afterward -- repeat again in serial fashion.

For background, read U.S. Government Says HIV/AIDS is Mostly a Gay Disease and also just reported that Soaring Syphilis Rates Among Homosexual Men Point to HIV Risk

UPDATE 11/25/15: Gov't Pushes Anal Sex Pill because Homosexual Men are Major HIV Risk

Also read Anal Sex is Main Cause of HIV Pandemic, Study Shows

And read President Obama Commits $15 Million to Show that Gay Men Aren't the Cause of HIV/AIDS

In addition, read HIV Cure: False Hope to Victims, Money to Others

-- From "Preventative treatment dramatically reduces HIV risk in gay men" by Kate Kelland, Reuters (London) 2/24/15

Gay men at high risk of HIV who took a daily dose of a Gilead AIDS drug as a preventative measure cut their risk of infection by 86 percent, according to results of a British trial released on Tuesday.

Researchers who conducted the trial of so-called pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) said the results offer real hope of reversing the HIV epidemic among men who have sex with men, one of the highest risk groups.

PrEP involves people who do not have HIV but who are at high risk of becoming infected and seek to protect themselves by taking a single pill, usually a combination of two antiretrovirals, every day.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Pills before, after risky sex by gays can lower HIV risk" by The Associated Press 2/25/15

The results offer hope of a more appealing way to help prevent the disease beyond taking daily pills and using condoms, although those methods are still considered best.

The study, done in France and Canada, is the first to test "on demand" use of Truvada, a pill combining two AIDS drugs, by people planning to have risky sex. The uninfected men who took it were 86 percent less likely to get HIV compared with men given dummy pills.

The study of Gilead Science's Truvada was led by the French national HIV research agency.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "HIV Pills Before And After Sex Prevents Spread Of HIV In Gay Men: Study" by Dianne Depra, Tech Times 2/25/15

More than 35 million people around the world have HIV but experts estimate that new infections in gay men can be curbed by 25 percent through pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), preventing up to a million new cases in the group in a 10-year period.

PrEP helps those not yet infected by HIV but at high risk of acquiring an infection with a simple pill. Containing emtricitabine and tenofovir, the pill keeps the virus from permanently taking hold after an individual is exposed, preventing HIV from fully developing. In a UK trial, researchers tested the Gilead drug Truvada and found that as a preventative measure, the pill can cut up to 86 percent of HIV risk.

The results of the study was presented at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, which the UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, gladly welcomed.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "HIV pill: Scientists hail discovery of 'game-changer' that cuts the risk of infection among gay men" by Charlie Cooper, UK Independent 2/24/15

A daily pill that can dramatically cut a person’s risk of contracting HIV must be made available through the NHS “as soon as possible”, campaigners have said.

Results of a major UK trial of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) have been described as “extremely exciting” and a “game-changer” by leading specialists.

Despite major advances in the fight against HIV/Aids in recent decades, the infection rate among men who have sex with men remains stubbornly high in the UK, and the results of the trial have led to calls for PrEP to be offered free by the NHS.

With evidence of its effectiveness now established, it will have to consider whether the pills, which will cost £423 per month for each patient, will be cost-effective, and what the criteria should be for accessing them.

The next question is how many people would be given the pill. It would probably only be available for high-risk people – those who are having sex with several partners, sometimes unprotected. About 18,000 men who have sex with men are diagnosed with a sexually transmitted infection each year (an indicator of a high-risk lifestyle). If around a quarter of these were deemed likely to benefit from PrEP that would mean 4,500 people taking PrEP a year, at a total cost of £22.8m.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Gilead’s Pill Can Stop HIV. So Why Does Almost Nobody Take It?" by Caroline Chen, Bloomberg Business 2/17/15

Truvada, Gilead [Sciences Inc.]’s HIV drug, has been approved since 2004 for people with the virus. In 2012, use was expanded to people without HIV as a way of preventing transmission -- a practice called PrEP, or pre-exposure prophylaxis. Taken daily, it can prevent infections 92 percent of the time, meaning it could drastically reduce new infections in sexually active gay men, among the U.S.’s highest-risk communities.

Thanks to its use in HIV patients, Truvada’s been a financial success, bringing Gilead $1.79 billion in the U.S last year. Yet out of 3.3 U.S. million prescriptions from January 2012 to March 2014, only 3,200 were for prevention.

There are many reasons: Gilead says PrEP isn’t a moneymaker, so the drugmaker doesn’t pitch the medicine to many of the primary care doctors who see healthy, HIV-negative gay men most likely to benefit from Truvada. Patients and advocates say doctors often don’t know about the medicine, and some insurance plans leave patients with copays as high as $1,300, making use by the healthy less affordable.

The result is thousands of people who could significantly lower their HIV risk, yet don’t. Some 50,000 Americans are diagnosed with HIV each year, with the highest rates among young gay males, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "New compound raises hope for HIV vaccine" by IANS posted at Business Standards 2/19/15

In a major step against HIV (human immunodeficiency virus), the virus that causes AIDS, scientists have announced the creation of a novel drug candidate that is so potent and universally effective it might work as part of an unconventional vaccine.

"Unlike antibodies, which fail to neutralise a large fraction of HIV-1 strains, our protein has been effective against all strains tested, raising the possibility it could offer an effective HIV vaccine alternative," said lead researcher Michael Farzan, professor at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), Florida.

Tested in monkeys, the new drug candidate blocks every strain of HIV-1, HIV-2 and SIV (simian immunodeficiency virus) that has been isolated from humans or rhesus macaques, including the hardest-to-stop variants, the findings showed.

The study was published online in the journal Nature.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "New drug discovery could offer HIV cure" by Yoon Ju Chung, Daily Tarheel 2/22/15


The Scripps Research Institute on Wednesday published details about the potential drug, touted as a vaccine alternative. Dr. Michael Farzan, a professor of infectious diseases at TSRI’s Florida campus, said he expects his new drug candidate could cure the 35 million people living with HIV worldwide within the next few years.

But Dr. David Margolis, a UNC professor of medicine and leader of the Collaboratory of AIDS Researchers for Eradication, cast doubt on several of the study’s findings: whether it will be as effective for humans as it was for monkeys, whether the protection will last long enough and whether human cells will react abnormally to the proteins.

“This is not novel and has been tried in the lab for decades,” he said.

An estimated 39 million people have died worldwide from HIV-related causes, and while treatments have improved, a cure has remained elusive for decades.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

Click headlines below to read previous articles:

New Deadly HIV Rampant in Cuba — Obama Media Ignore

President Obama Pays Pre-teens to Learn Anal Sex in Hawaii

Obama Top Homosexual Arrested for Anal Sex with Boy