Polypharmacy...

 

This article is about polypharmacy in patients with HIV.  Polypharmacy is the act of taking numerous medications for 1 or more conditions the patient may have.  The more medications the higher chance of negative outcomes from polypharmacy.  This can lead to numerous dangerous side effects ranging from minor conditions like low energy to more serious outcomes such as frailty & cognitive decline. 

The article talks about this & attempting to rule out this phenomenon when considering what is polypharmacy & what is an actual comorbidity.  This was an interesting piece.  The possibility of polypharmacy & comorbidity both increase with age & illness. 

When starting a new medication, you should always check with your medical provider or pharmacist for interactions between drugs.  There are several places online for checking to see if meds have interactions.  This is the site at Drugs.com.

Give this a read.  Take care.

Cya...

Forked Attack On HIV...

 

This article is about research in using Venetoclax in tandem with normal HIV regimens.  Venetoclax is normally used to treat various blood cancers.   This is a good piece, definitely worth the read.  This approach will target the dormant virus while the primary regimen continues fighting the active.  Venetoclax won't completely kill off the virus, but it does target the virus' ability to reactivate or reproduce.  While it doesn't completely stop either, it does delay it by weeks & any delayal is good.

This is an interesting & something to keep up with.  There will definitely be more developed off of this approach.  Another step has been taken in the fight against HIV.

Cya...

Easiest To Read...

 

The biggest problem in curing HIV is the reservoir of the virus hidden away in the DNA of cells.   This article is about a newer approach to handling the issue.  This is a complex subject & this was the most understandable of the pieces I found.  

The approach works by modulating the activity of these cells by altering a immune response, which is usually inflammation.  By doing this, the medication  not only reduces inflammation, it also shortens the lifespan of the host cells hiding the virus.  Thus starving it out or basically siege warfare.

This was complex & there are other pieces reporting on it.   Find the article that suits you best & give it a read.  It's a novel approach.

It's hot, but supposed to cool down some today.  It might storm.  If it does, I hope it's not bad.  We don't need that on top of all of this.

Take care.

Cya...

Don't Forget...

 

I read an article this morning about Glaxo Smith Kline, GSK.  The article wasn't that important, the sentiment was.  They were developing a novel approach to stop the maturation of HIV cells.  They were working on this with 2 new meds.  The drug they dropped had seemed promising in prevoius write ups.  However, the company didn't find it's results different enough form the rest of the market to proceed. 

That means that even if it was a great medication they didn't see the financial viability of the product.   Never forget these big pharma companies are just that, companies.  They are owned by stock holders & are primarily concerned with accruing wealth for sharsholders.  If that doesn't happen, oh well, so long new product.

Until such a time HIV drugs are terribly cheap or there's a new viral scourge on the horizon, these companies will never be motivated to cure HIV.  Curing illnesses isn't in these companies' interest.   It's a short term money grab.  Don't forget GSK & all the others are businesses here to help themselves, not you.   

Cya...

Lenacapavir...

 

Lenacapavir is the topic of this article.  The article talks about using the med to treat HIV+ patients, all of which had multi-drug resistant variants of the virus. This med is new & not completely out to the public yet.  It attacks the capsid parts of the virus.  This weakens the virus' ability transport, integrate & protect itself.  Currently the med is also being researched as a long acting, injectable PrEP measure.

It's  a goodread.   The 1st version I found was a very jargon heavy abstract that was difficult at best.  This is supposed to be a 2 part piece.  Give it a read.

Cya...