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A Blue Pill Is Stopping HIV, World-First Study Shows

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Re: A Blue Pill Is Stopping HIV, World-First Study Shows

#31

Post by tomatocracy »

From what I've read previously, this isn't a surprise - PrEP is expected to make a huge impact where it's available and this study sounds like it could be very influential in getting it made available elsewhere which is, I think, its real value - the public health effect rather than the individual-level effect.

The article linked below also details some of the pitfalls campaigners had to overcome to get it funded on the NHS in the UK - the biggest hurdle was not convincing people of effectiveness but that there was a need in the first place - as safer sex is much cheaper but in practice just doesn't always happen and we're probably at, or close to, the limit of what education can achieve now.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-44606711

Re: A Blue Pill Is Stopping HIV, World-First Study Shows

#32

Post by drewmassey »

chimeracoder wrote: post #20
drewmassey wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah this is true. The cost of generics is so low but in the United States it remains quite expensive if you don’t have insurance.

> but in the United States it remains quite expensive if you don’t have insurance. Not really - Gilead provides assistance programs for people who have private insurance, for people on public insurance, and for people who are uninsured (there are three separate assistance programs). The plan for people who have private insurance is the best (you end up paying $0/year for PrEP), and the plan for people who are uninsur…

Ah perhaps I have stale information then. Last I heard retail truvada will run you north of $1,500 per month in the us.

Re: A Blue Pill Is Stopping HIV, World-First Study Shows

#33

Post by denzil_correa »

dawhizkid wrote: post #27
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> STD rates are skyrocketing in the US Source? (If frequencies of curable STDs are rising while those of incurable ones are falling, that would be a good trade.)

Edit: common STDs that are treated by antibiotics are becoming drug resistant like anything can be that is treated with antibiotics. Point is don’t think because you can take an antibiotic and make syphilis go away now that you won’t encounter a drug resistant strain now or in the very near future! https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna642161 Lol there’s no cure for syphillis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, hep b, genital herp…

> Lol there’s no cure for syphillis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, hep b, etc etc.

Each and everyone disease you listed here can be cured. Example, Syphilis - https://www.cdc.gov/std/syphilis/lab/default.htm

Re: A Blue Pill Is Stopping HIV, World-First Study Shows

#34

Post by dmix »

killjoywashere wrote: post #22

Interesting problem we're dealing with: Truvada potentially makes it harder to identify HIV+ blood donors (as their antibody titers fall naturally over time) and raises the question of whether HIV+ individuals will be more likely to attempt to donate in order to "prove they're safe". It is a well-known fact in their community that men having sex with men are deferred from being blood donors for 12 months from last ma…

Is there any centralized ruling for this in the US (and other countries) or is this up to the blood banks.

I'd imagine they'd face liability issues if they were taking blood from high risk individuals. This also applies to intravenous drug users as well (which has nothing to do with sexual orientation).

Re: A Blue Pill Is Stopping HIV, World-First Study Shows

#35

Post by dawhizkid »

dimgl wrote: post #29
dawhizkid wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Edit: common STDs that are treated by antibiotics are becoming drug resistant like anything can be that is treated with antibiotics. Point is don’t think because you can take an antibiotic and make syphilis go away now that you won’t encounter a drug resistant strain now or in the very near future! https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna642161 Lol there’s no cure for syphillis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, hep b, genital herp…

What are you talking about? There's cures for literally every single one of those diseases you mentioned.

Antibiotics aren’t going to work forever on new strains of common STDs. Already seeing rise in drug resistant strains.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna642161

Re: A Blue Pill Is Stopping HIV, World-First Study Shows

#36

Post by dawhizkid »

denzil_correa wrote: post #33
dawhizkid wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Edit: common STDs that are treated by antibiotics are becoming drug resistant like anything can be that is treated with antibiotics. Point is don’t think because you can take an antibiotic and make syphilis go away now that you won’t encounter a drug resistant strain now or in the very near future! https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna642161 Lol there’s no cure for syphillis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, hep b, genital herp…

> Lol there’s no cure for syphillis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, hep b, etc etc. Each and everyone disease you listed here can be cured. Example, Syphilis - https://www.cdc.gov/std/syphilis/lab/default.htm

Antibiotics won’t work forever. Seeing drug resistant strains already.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna642161

Re: A Blue Pill Is Stopping HIV, World-First Study Shows

#37

Post by killjoywashere »

dmix wrote: post #34
killjoywashere wrote: post #22

Interesting problem we're dealing with: Truvada potentially makes it harder to identify HIV+ blood donors (as their antibody titers fall naturally over time) and raises the question of whether HIV+ individuals will be more likely to attempt to donate in order to "prove they're safe". It is a well-known fact in their community that men having sex with men are deferred from being blood donors for 12 months from last ma…

Is there any centralized ruling for this in the US (and other countries) or is this up to the blood banks. I'd imagine they'd face liability issues if they were taking blood from high risk individuals. This also applies to intravenous drug users as well (which has nothing to do with sexual orientation).

Each donor center medical director is responsible for their own checklist, however, The American Association of Blood Banks (AABB) inspects blood donor centers and publishes their questionnairre. Not asking these questions will constitute a hit agaisnt your program and may jeopardize your institution's ability to seek reimbursement for services from, say, CMS.

http://www.aabb.org/tm/questionnaires/Documents/dhq/v2/DHQ%2...

Re: A Blue Pill Is Stopping HIV, World-First Study Shows

#38

Post by JumpCrisscross »

dawhizkid wrote: post #36
denzil_correa wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Lol there’s no cure for syphillis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, hep b, etc etc. Each and everyone disease you listed here can be cured. Example, Syphilis - https://www.cdc.gov/std/syphilis/lab/default.htm

Antibiotics won’t work forever. Seeing drug resistant strains already. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna642161

> Antibiotics won’t work forever. Seeing drug resistant strains already

You said there's "no cure." That's different. Reducing frequencies of a disease for which there is literally no cure in exchange for higher frequencies of a disease for which there is emerging antibiotic resistance is still a good trade.

The article you cite regarding rising STD rates claims the cause is "a decline in funding for state and local agencies working on prevention" as well as "an extreme lack of awareness about STDs and sexual health" and "doctors are not screening and testing for these diseases and patients [not knowing] they need to ask to be tested" [1]. The only link to HIV stated is "people are not afraid of dying from HIV," not a link to prep.

[1] https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna904311

Re: A Blue Pill Is Stopping HIV, World-First Study Shows

#39

Post by esf »

killjoywashere wrote: post #22

Interesting problem we're dealing with: Truvada potentially makes it harder to identify HIV+ blood donors (as their antibody titers fall naturally over time) and raises the question of whether HIV+ individuals will be more likely to attempt to donate in order to "prove they're safe". It is a well-known fact in their community that men having sex with men are deferred from being blood donors for 12 months from last ma…

Truvada does nothing to change identification of HIV+ donors. Truvada does not change response to HIV tests, an HIV+ person taking Truvada as part of treatment does not stop testing positive for HIV antibodies. Nothing changes from the existing blood donation situation due to Truvada.

Re: A Blue Pill Is Stopping HIV, World-First Study Shows

#40

Post by adventured »

DenisM wrote: post #4

Developed by Gilead, the same company that created the Hep-C cure Sovaldi. Some kick-ass work there.

Gilead deserves a lot of credit for their work on HIV.

The credit on the hepatitis C cure and Sovaldi goes to the scientists at Pharmasset of Princeton NJ. Gilead bought the company when it became clear what they had, and then more than doubled the price Pharmasset was planning to charge for Sovaldi.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharmasset

Interestingly, one of the principles behind Pharmasset, the scientist Raymond F. Schinazi, was born in Egypt. Egypt has one of the world's highest rates of hepatitis C infection. Egypt unintentionally gave itself a hep-C epidemic - while trying to fight another public health threat - that reached over one in ten people. Generics, post Sovaldi, have dropped the price of treatment down to $84 per patient, with Egypt now making rapid progress against hep-C.

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2018/05/why-egypt...

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