Tag Archives: HIV

ViroCarb’s anti HIV Crowd Funding Campaign

Toronto, Canada, December 01, 2014 — /REAL TIME PRESS RELEASE NEWS/ — ViroCarb Inc. has launched a worldwide crowd funding campaign to promote the development of its new HIV infection inhibitor.

WORLD AIDS DAY – Make a donation to save lives from AIDS! Support new treatment development at: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/funding-a-new-therapy-against-drug-resistant-hiv/x/9240077

Despite the great progress made in HIV/AIDS treatment, there is still an urgent need for new drugs, particularly for people who have had to abandon existing treatments due to HIV drug resistance and side effects.

The current treatment of HIV/AIDS involves the use of three or more drugs from five main general classes, used in combination. While this antiretroviral therapy (ART) has helped to reduced morbidity and mortality from AIDS, long term toxicity and the emergence and transmission of drug resistant HIV strains limit the effectiveness. Thus, despite therapy which can render this a chronic, rather than acute fatal infection, development of new drugs to prevent infection and overcome drug resistant strains, is increasingly urgent.

ViroCarb Inc. is developing a novel technology that addresses infections by drug resistant HIV strains. Developed from the identification of a new, natural resistance factor against HIV infection by scientists at SickKids and Canadian Blood Services, ViroCarb’s inhibitor works against a previously overlooked target on the virus to block HIV from entering human cells, the very first step in the infection. It works against all HIV strains.

Funds are needed to aid in moving forward to support preclinical studies; therefore ViroCarb Inc. has started an international crown funding campaign to carry out these HIV model studies needed before conducting clinical trials.
Please support this new way to block HIV.

Contact-Details: Dr. Mario Huesca
479 Simonston Boulevard.
Thornhill ON.
L3T 4M4 Canada

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ViroCarb;
Website: http://www.virocarb.com

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HIV Reservoirs and Strategies for Eradication Workshop: Advanced Program Available

For 10 years now, an international workshop has been launched in order to study the mechanisms of HIV persistence in viral reservoirs and ways to eradicate HIV in patients on potent antiretroviral therapy. Its next edition is scheduled in Miami (Fl, USA) on December 3-6, 2013.

Toulon, France, May 8, 2013 — Combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) has transformed HIV infection from a deadly to a chronic disease. However, HIV-infected patients are still facing problems of compliance, resistance, toxicity, and stigmatization. Furthermore, cART access remains limited in poor-resource countries where most patients reside.

Even if cART is capable of maintaining undetectable levels of plasma viremia in compliant patients, HIV is not eradicated and remains present in some cells, allowing viremia to rise within a few weeks of cART cessation.

HIV latency is the main obstacle to a cure and cells carrying replication-competent HIV are called reservoirs. These HIV reservoirs are stable after more than 10 years of suppressive cART and are not affected by current antiretroviral drugs.

The success of cART at blocking HIV replication has led to a shift in the HIV treatment field toward the development of new strategies to eradicate HIV reservoirs.

In theory, there are 2 kinds of HIV cures:

-A sterilizing cure where no trace of HIV remains;
-A functional cure where HIV replication is controlled without cART. In this condition, a patient can retain some defective viral sequences but viremia 20 copies/ml is a guarantee of no clinical progression and an unlikely risk of virus transmission.

For 10 years now, an international workshop has been launched in order to study the mechanisms of HIV persistence in viral reservoirs and ways to eradicate HIV in patients on potent antiretroviral therapy. This workshop welcomed an increasing number of participants over the years and was held every 2-year in St Marteen. Its next edition is scheduled in Miami (Fl, USA) on December 3-6, 2013. The Steering Committee and the Scientific Committee of this workshop contains renowned scientists working in the field of HIV reservoirs and eradication from USA, Europe and Australia. Participants can submit an abstract to present their work during the meeting.

Over the years, the “International Workshop on HIV Persistence during Therapy” has been recognized as the reference meeting on HIV reservoirs and strategies for eradication. The first editions were mainly focused on the basic mechanisms of HIV persistence, but since the 2011 edition, an increased part is devoted to clinical trials of HIV eradication. For example, this year will be discussed strategies of reactivation of latent HIV, immune therapies and gene therapies.

Researchers working on HIV reservoirs and strategies for eradication, as well as clinicians and pharmaceutical companies are invited to sign in and attend what will be a cornerstone meeting on HIV reservoirs.

The advanced program is available at: http://www.hiv-workshop.com/HIV-Reservoirs-cure-persistence-workshop.htm

About us: the Steering Committee for the “6th International Workshop on HIV Persistence during Therapy” contains Alain Lafeuillade, MD (Toulon, France), Mario Stevenson, MD, PhD (Miami, USA) and David Margolis (Chapel Hill, USA). The Scientific Committee contains academic members and members from R & D from pharmaceutical companies.

Media Contact:
Alain Lafeuillade
General Hospital,
51 rue Henri Ste Claire Deville,
83000 Toulon, France
+33 4 94 14 50 84
lafeuillade@orange.fr
http://www.hiv-workshop.com

IPHi Launches Model HIV/AIDS Care Program in PG County, Maryland

The Institute for Public Health Innovation Launches Model HIV/AIDS Care Program in Prince George’s County, Maryland

Washington, DC, April 29, 2013 – The Institute for Public Health Innovation (IPHi) today announced Total Health Partners, a new initiative in Prince George’s County, Maryland that will use highly trained community health workers to provide personalized assistance to people living with HIV/AIDS to help them link to and remain in HIV medical care. The effort is a partnership with Prince George’s County Health Department, Greater Baden Medical Services, and Heart to Hand, Inc. and an expansion of similar efforts that IPHi coordinates in the District of Columbia and Virginia. IPHi recently received prestigious national grants from the Kaiser Permanente National Community Benefit Fund at the East Bay Community Foundation, AIDS United, and M·A·C AIDS Fund to launch the program, along with funding from Washington AIDS Partnership.

Prince George’s County is home to approximately one-fifth of all people living with HIV in Maryland, second only to Baltimore City. According to the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, only 65% of HIV diagnosed persons in the county were linked to care in 2010 and just over one-third (37%) of HIV diagnosed persons were retained in care. Fewer still, 27%, were on antiretroviral therapy, and just 19% achieved viral suppression. These rates are below corresponding rates for Maryland and the nation overall. Research demonstrates that viral suppression is critical not only for the health and quality of life of people living with HIV/AIDS, but for preventing further transmission of the disease.

The community health workers will work as members of interdisciplinary care teams at medical and support service sites across the county. As trusted members of the community who can relate to the experiences of those they support, community health workers are in a unique position to help people living with HIV/AIDS overcome barriers to medical care, including stigma, lack of a basic understanding about the disease and available services, and challenges navigating community resources.

Since 2011, IPHi has trained over 100 community health workers, including approximately 40 who have specialized in providing support to people living with HIV/AIDS. IPHi, together with its partner Washington AIDS Partnership and over 15 community-based and medical providers, has created over 25 community health worker positions throughout DC, Maryland, and Virginia. Among those are 13 community health workers involved in Positive Pathways, a nationally recognized HIV care model in DC that enrolled over 500 people living with HIV/AIDS in its first 18 months. Positive Pathways has an intentional focus on the Wards of DC closest to Prince George’s County.

“The area straddling the border between DC and Prince George’s County is one of the most concentrated HIV/AIDS epidemics in the country,” said Michael Rhein, President and CEO of IPHi. “While there are considerable resources available to address the epidemic in DC, community-based systems of care and support for people living with HIV/AIDS are less developed and integrated across the jurisdictional line in Prince George’s County. Total Health Partners will play a critical role in ensuring that county residents have the assistance they need to access life-saving HIV/AIDS medical and support services.”

“This project is a long time coming for our county,” said Dedra Spears-Johnson, Executive Director of a community-based organization called Heart to Hand, Inc. “Too many people living with HIV/AIDS in the county are not effectively linked to medical care. Total Health Partners will make a huge difference.”

About the Institute for Public Health Innovation
The Institute for Public Health Innovation (IPHi) provides technical capacity, leverages resources, and facilitates collaboration across sectors to develop, implement, and evaluate effective strategies that improve health and quality of life in the DC, Maryland and Virginia region. IPHi is one of the newest institutes within the National Network of Public Health Institutes (NNPHI), an organization of 38 members throughout the United States and a growing aspect of the national public health infrastructure. To learn more about IPHi, visit www.institutephi.org.

Contact:
Janelle Suggs
The Institute for Public Health Innovation (IPHi)
130, Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 200
Washington, DC 20036
202-407-7096
jsuggs@institutephi.org
http://www.institutephi.org