POZ Community Forums
Meds, Mind, Body & Benefits => Research News & Studies => Topic started by: J220 on June 06, 2007, 12:06:00 pm
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From http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070531191057.htm, more great news.
Transformation For People With AIDS On The Horizon
Science Daily — A major breakthrough for people with AIDS is on the horizon, according to an editorial in the British Medical Journal.
Three new drugs are predicted to help transform the long-term prognosis for people with the AIDS virus, says an editorial in the journal, which points towards highly promising results from trials of three new drugs.
HIV patients in "deep salvage" -- meaning those people who have developed multidrug resistant HIV that does not respond to drug combination therapy -- could benefit the most.
"This year, we may witness a dramatic shift in how these patients are managed," says the editorial written by Hiroyu Hatano, infectious diseases fellow and Steven Deeks, associate professor of medicine, both of San Francisco General Hospital, University of California, USA.
For the first time in the HIV epidemic, three new agents have been developed for the management of the drug resistant virus, they say. "Hence for patients in deep salvage, 2007 may be comparable to the landmark events of 1996, when the near miraculous effects of combination therapy were first observed," they write.
The drugs are the HIV integrase inhibitors, R5 inhibitors, and etravirine (TMC125) -- a second generation non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor.
Some caution is necessary about potential hype around new treatments for these patients, they warn, and add that it is not possible to predict the end of deep salvage for all people with HIV.
But within the next year, the world will "probably" see a remarkable transformation in the long-term prognosis for a generation of chronically ill adults with HIV they conclude.
Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by BMJ-British Medical Journal
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It's neat that we're moving forwards on this stuff - new classes of drugs are very exciting.
I guess it makes me wonder exactly how good somebody currently ill with HIV can get - I mean is it really realistic to expect a "transformation" even once you've got the HIV under control. Once you've been ill, or had very low CD4, or gastrointestinal or neurological problems to what extent can people actually bounce back?
I'd be interested to hear the views of some long-term survivors on this.
M x.
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Well, as I've already stated repeatedly in my case I experienced a "transformation" in many regards from this "deep salvage" medication already, or at least the first one which is combining Prezista with fuzeon. The synergy of the two has been show to be better than taking either alone.
I'd not EVER had an undetectable viral load in 14 years, not even when PI's first came out, and my cd4's while respectable before this new regimen increased from 500 to the upper 900's. I've even gone over 1000 once this year. My % went from 34 to 42%.
So, while my numbers were particularly bad right before going on this it's still a significant increase if you look at the entire picture... night and day really of course due to the VL issue with me due to complete PI resistance. I've gone from quite severe GI issues to having almost none, mostly because fuzeon does not pass through my body that way, but still I think Prezista does next to nothing in my digestive track. The Norvir small booster I have to take with it still gives me some issues, but they are notably minimal. (though I still take 6 2mg immodium/day so I guess it's not THAT minimal). I still have some neuropathy issues but they are slightly less -- I've never had it as bad as some people on here though.
Mind you though, just a few years before this treatment my numbers were even lower. It's very encouraging that the new treatments coming out this year are pretty much all geared towards patients that are treatment experienced like myself. I do wonder, however, how quickly these will move to other and more new patients -- not so much the first-tier folks on their first HIV meds, but more the next level. People who have done their first or second HIV regimens but still seem to have low-ish CD4 levels and %, but seem to be OK due to suppressed VL. I see this all the time on this board.
I wonder how many longer time side effects I will have. They always think the side effects will be less and they always seem to be wrong -- we'll see. I've been a guinea pig now for 14 years so I don't expect that to be changing.