HIV News & Views

On Jan. 29, 2008, the U.S. government released the second part of its new HIV treatment guidelines. This second section contains antiretroviral recommendations. We asked Joel Gallant, M.D., M.P.H., to provide a summary of the changes. Dr. Gallant is not only one of the top clinicians and researchers in the United States, he's also a guidelines panel member.

On Jan. 18, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first new non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor in nearly a decade. It was known throughout much of its development as TMC125, and is now known by its generic name, etravirine, and the brand name of Intelence. Etravirine's approval follows on the heels of the approvals of four other new antiretrovirals, making this an unprecedented time in the history of HIV/AIDS medicine. To learn more about etravirine, and its potential impact on the treatment of HIV-infected patients, we spoke with Dr. Cal Cohen, research director of Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates and Community Research Initiative of New England in Boston, Mass. He is also a clinical instructor at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Cohen has participated in research on etravirine, and has also received funding from Tibotec, which developed etravirine.

On Dec. 1, 2007, the U.S. government released the first, and the biggest, part of its new HIV treatment guidelines. We asked Joel Gallant, M.D., M.P.H., to provide a summary of the changes. Dr. Gallant is not only one of the top clinicians and researchers in the United States, he's also a guidelines panel member.

Dr. David Wohl briefly describes how Isentress differs from other meds. This is Part II of an update on Isentress.

On Oct. 12, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Isentress, the first member of a new class of meds called integrase inhibitors. Isentress is also known generically as raltegravir, and during its early development was called MK-0518. To find out more about Isentress and how it might impact treatment for HIV-positive people, we spoke with Dr. David Wohl, an associate professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and the co-director of HIV services for the North Carolina Department of Corrections. Dr. Wohl has participated in research on Isentress, and has also received research funding from Merck and Company, which developed Isentress. This is Part I of an update on Isentress.

It's been a year since the United States approved a new HIV medication, and four long years since we witnessed the birth of a whole new class of meds. But on Aug. 6, 2007, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave the green light to maraviroc, which will be known by the brand name Selzentry. Maraviroc is the first in a new class of HIV meds known as CCR5 inhibitors. Which HIV-positive people stand to benefit the most from maraviroc? How can you know if maraviroc's a good fit for you? To get the answers to these questions, we spoke with Dr. Joel Gallant, a professor of medicine and epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and one of the leading HIV specialists in the United States.

Dr. Constantinides is the director of facial plastic and reconstructive surgery at New York University School of Medicine. He's been doing reconstructive surgery on people with facial lipoatrophy since 1998. He talks to us today about lipoatrophy's causes and treatments.

As an HIV health care provider and a person living with the virus, Dr. Frascino has a unique perspective. As someone who has struggled with lipoatrophy himself, he knows all too well what his patients are experiencing. Today, he talks to us about lipoatrophy's causes and treatments.

Dr. Mulligan helped organize the first International Workshop on Adverse Drug Reactions and Lipodystrophy in HIV, the only medical conference focused entirely on body-shape changes in people with HIV. She is one of the key researchers working on trying to understand and treat the disorder. She talks to us today about lipoatrophy's causes and treatments.

Dr. Young has been caring for people with HIV since 1994. Since that time, he's earned a reputation as an outspoken patient advocate, a personable clinician and a dedicated researcher. He talks to us today about lipoatrophy's causes and treatments.