Thaindian News

April 6, 2010 (Pen Men at Work): The 30-year-old conflict against AIDS has generated its share of remarkable triumphs. In America, behavioral transformations and an amalgamation of drug remedies diminished the AIDS-related demise toll from the zenith of virtually 52,000 in 1994 to about 14,600 in 2007. This information is as per the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. Yet, HIV illnesses are still disseminating speedily in the areas of Africa and Asia. Up to now, labors to unearth a cure or build up a vaccine that would bring to a halt HIV in its path have been unsuccessful.

However, Gilead Sciences is assisting to analyze a dissimilar prevention approach. This entails administering a dose to the people, in danger of contracting AIDS, with drugs usually used to take care of people, who are already plagued by the infection. This tactic, known as PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis), is being examined in 10 medical trials consisting of in excess of 20,000 individuals in America, Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Gilead has provided many of the drugs for the experiments. Other endorsers include the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institutes of Health, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The investigators expect preliminary results in July.

Leerink Swann forecaster, Josh Schimmer, has stated that, if the data are optimistic, the tactic could have an immense impact on the AIDS pandemic and on Gilead. He has mouthed that PrEP could bring the Foster City (California) company as much as $1 billion in sales in America where the number of viruses amongst homosexual males has been mounting since 1991. In line with the CDC, Gilead attracted $5.54 billion last year as a result of the sales of its top three AIDS drugs — Truvada, Atripla, and Viread. These pills are consumed by 85% of the American patients as the initial defense against the lethal virus.

In the PrEP trials, Viread or Truvada is delivered to the uninfected individuals from the groups most in jeopardy of contracting the virus. The studies are also intended to decide whether those getting the drugs take bigger and more perilous risks in the belief they are shielded against the virus. The participants obtain therapy on the manner in which to steer clear of infection.

Bill Gates had mentioned to the American Senate in the previous month on worldwide health priorities that, if the trials generated constructive consequences, the PrEP circulation programs could commence in the developing countries in 2012. Mitchell Warren, the administrative director of the New York-based AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition, has divulged that the PrEP is the next medical revolution. He has stated that they have a level of biological and natural plausibility and preliminary data in animal studies that is stronger than anything they have witnessed in the other approaches.