Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
GSK Wants To Upend Traditional HIV Treatment -- And Its Strategy Might Just Work
The Wall Street Journal: GlaxoSmithKline’s New Drug Challenges AIDS Treatment Orthodoxy
GlaxoSmithKline PLC’s ViiV Healthcare announced positive phase-three trial results for its new HIV drug in a dual-drug regimen, supporting the company’s audacious bet that it can shift the AIDS treatment orthodoxy away from three-drug combinations. U.K.-based Glaxo said its HIV pill dolutegravir plus Johnson & Johnson’s rilpivirine suppressed the virus as well as traditional three- or four-drug combinations in two identical, yearlong trials, each involving around 500 patients. (Roland, 12/20)
In other HIV and AIDS news —
New Orleans Times-Picayune: HIV/AIDS Deaths In Baton Rouge Have Risen 1,500 Percent Since 1980
Death rates from heart disease and lower respiratory disease are higher in certain Louisiana parishes than anywhere else in the United States, according to a major new analysis of county-level death data. The data also show that Louisiana has seen some of the highest increases in deaths relates to HIV/AIDs and nutritional deficiencies nationwide over the last 25 years. ... Meanwhile, deaths connected to HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis in East Baton Rouge Parish have skyrocketed 1,515 percent since 1980, faster than any other parish or county nationwide. East Feliciana Parish and West Baton Rouge Parish also placed among the top five counties and parishes in the U.S. with the biggest increase in the rate of deaths due to HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. (Lipinski, 12/19)
Health News Florida: Doctors Push Testing, Needle Exchange To Combat Surging AIDS Cases
New data on HIV/AIDS cases from the Center for Disease Control paint an alarming picture of the disease spreading in South Florida. Cities like Miami report triple the national rate for new HIV infections in 2015, while smaller cities in Southwest Florida continue to show some of the highest number of cases per capita in the nation. (Smith, 12/19)
