Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
There's No Vaccine, There's No Cure, But Experts Say We Can End AIDS
PBS Newshour: The End Of AIDS?
PBS NewsHour traveled to six places across the world to find stories of those in the middle of the AIDS epidemic. Will they find an end to AIDS? Watch our six-part series, starting July 11th. (7/11)
PBS Newshour: San Francisco’s Bold AIDS Mission Is ‘Getting To Zero’ By 2030
There’s still no vaccine and no cure, but the medical community is increasingly focused on ambitious plans to bring about an end to HIV/AIDS. The NewsHour launches its series, “The End of AIDS?” with a look at intense prevention efforts underway in one of the cities most impacted by the epidemic, San Francisco. (Brangham, 7/11)
In other news, researchers turn to a dating app to promote HIV self-testing kits and a federal court dismisses a lawsuit brought against Gilead by AIDS activists —
The New York Times: Researchers Try Grindr App To Give Out H.I.V. Self-Testing Kits
Grindr, the gay dating app, is an effective way to get gay black and Hispanic men to try home H.I.V. self-testing kits, according to a recent study. The small study was confined to Los Angeles, and fewer than 400 test kits were distributed, but the idea has broader potential. Grindr is used by at least five million men in 192 countries, according to its developer. (McNeil, 7/11)
Stat: Gilead Defeats AIDS Activists Who Claimed The Company Manipulated Patents
Gilead Sciences won a victory last week when a federal court judge tossed a lawsuit in which an AIDS activist group accused the drug maker of manipulating the patent system in order to thwart competition for its HIV medicines. In its lawsuit, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation had charged that Gilead not only violated antitrust laws, but also prevented countless HIV patients from access to a newer and safer treatment. The battle was framed by AIDS activists as another instance in which the company had placed profits over patient safety, a criticism that has dogged Gilead over its pricing on hepatitis C drugs for more than two years. (Silverman, 7/11)
