News

The IAS Towards an HIV Cure Team is excited to share the announcement of a common Material Transfer Agreement (cMTA), developed by the initiative Industry Collaboration Group, whose mission is to foster dialogue and collaboration between the private and public sector involved in HIV cure research.

The IAS issued a press release on January 20, 2016, announcing the agreement, approved by ViiV Healthcare, Gilead, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Johnson & Johnson, and Merck. The cMTA represents a major achievement to accelerate research for a remission and ultimately cure for HIV by facilitating the access to combinational use of marketed compounds in antiretroviral therapy for preclinical studies.

The cMTA is the result of lengthy discussions and negotiations among the pharmaceutical companies involved. The IAS Towards an HIV Cure Team is delighted that the outcome of this collaborative effort is available to the broad scientific community, and sincerely hopes that you and your colleagues will be able to make use of this cMTA for research towards an HIV cure.

Thank you to all the members of the Industry Collaboration Group, in particular the company representatives and the co-chairs, for leading this truly collaborative effort.

Michael M. Lederman MD, Editor-in-Chief, is excited to announce the launch of Pathogens and Immunity (P&I), a new electronic, open access journal that will focus on original research in microbiology, immunology and infectious disease. Pathogens and Immunity has a particular interest in publishing translational manuscripts, that is, work that has important implications for human health and disease. Studies using animal models are perfectly acceptable for publication in P&I so long as the work has important implications for human health and disease.

Treatment Action Group has just released hepatitis C fact sheets in English and Spanish. The set includes:

• Adherence,
• Diagnostics, and
• Treatment (Sovaldi, Olysio, Viekira Pak, Harvoni, Daklinza, and Ribavirin).

PDFs of our fact sheets are available at:
http://www.treatmentactiongroup.org/hcv/factsheets.

We are also happy to send you hard copies at no charge. You can order these online at:
http://www.treatmentactiongroup.org/pub-request.

As usual, we welcome any This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for improving our materials.

The Liver Forum and UC Berkeley School of Public Health, academic home of the Forum for Collaborative HIV Research and the Liver Forum, are sponsoring a special seminar as part of the Dean's Speaker Series.

The seminar will be an opportunity to focus on the public health burden of fatty liver disease and its consequences; challenges and opportunities in addressing the barriers to effective treatments; the unique contribution of the Liver Forum; and opportunities for collaboration across and between academia and industry.

The seminar will include a presentation by Arun Sanyal, Professor & Chair of the Department of Internal Medicine at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, and academic co-chair of the Liver Forum; comments by FDA/CDER/DGIEP Deputy Director Andrew Mulberg; a panel representing biotech from US and Europe; and an opportunity to participate in a general discussion. Co-moderators for the seminar will be Ed Penhoet of Alta Partners and former dean of UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health and professor emeritus of Health Policy and Management, and The Forum’s Executive Director Veronica Miller.  The session will conclude with a networking reception.

If you plan to attend, please register at the following link: November 11th Dean's Speaker Series & Reception

Dean’s Speaker Series & Reception:
Wednesday, November 11

The Berkeley City Club
2315 Durant Avenue
Berkeley, CA  94704

Lecture & Panel: 4:00 – 5:30 PM in the Drawing Room
Reception: 5:30 – 6:00 PM in the Berkeley Room

Treatment for hepatitis C among people who use drugs is feasible and cost-effective and hepatitis C screening, linkage to care and treatment need to be scaled up, according to new recommendations for the management of hepatitis C released by the International Network on Hepatitis Care in Substance Users (INHSU).

The recommendations are being released as part of a Special Issue on Expanding Access to Prevention, Care and Treatment for Hepatitis C Virus Infection Among People Who Inject Drugs published in the October issue of the International Journal of Drug Policy.

There is a great deal of work being done across the country to improve care for those infected with hepatitis C. This work has been reinvigorated in recent years by new tools that hold great promise, including new HCV treatments that have the potential to cure over 90% of all individuals with HCV infection as well as expanded access to healthcare coverage brought about by implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Even so, analysis of the HCV Continuum of Care in the U.S. [PDF 297 KB] indicates that, of the approximately 3.5 million individuals in the U.S. infected with hepatitis C, only 50% of those infected are aware that they have hepatitis C and only 9% have been cured. National as well as state and local HCV continuum models also show that many patients are lost at each stage between diagnosis and cure.

The number of people living with viral hepatitis is increasing – a better understanding of the testing policies and strategies is needed.

Thursday, 22 October 2015, Barcelona: Today, EASL and HIV in Europe announce a consensus definition of late presentation for viral hepatitis. The announcement coincides with the European AIDS Conference in Barcelona and aims to encourage policy makers, health professionals, public health institutions and civil society organisations to implement this definition to improve the European surveillance of and response to the viral hepatitis epidemic.

Forum staff and scientific experts on behalf of the Drug Resistance Working Group of the Forum for Collaborative HIV Research's HCV Drug Development Advisory Group (HCV DrAG) provide a comprehensive, systematic review of all resistance information available from sponsors' trials as a tool to inform the HCV drug development field. The report is now available as early view with DOI citation. Click here to read the report.

On July 30, 2015, The White House Office of AIDS Policy convened in Atlanta, GA to unveil the National HIV/AIDS Strategy, updated to 2020 after President Obama signed an executive order to mark the official release. Major changes to the NHAS include an expanded prevention toolkit, the role of The Affordable Care Act, new recommendations for HIV testing and treatment, improving the HIV Care Continuum, and using innovative research to discover new methods and tools. Click here to read the Updated National HIV/AIDS Strategy. 

 

Missing from The 2015 International AIDS Society Conference earlier this week, was Bob Munk, a long time friend, colleague, and AIDS activist who passed away earlier this month. His valuable and lifelong contribution to the AIDS effort in the US will never be forgotten.  

Click here to view a tribute to Bob Munk.