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Top 10 HIV and Hepatitis Stories of 2017

For our last issue, HIVandHepatitis.com reviews some the year's major HIV, viral hepatitis, and related news highlights. As we enter 2018, antiretroviral treatment for HIV is about as good as it can get, use of PrEP for HIV prevention is expanding rapidly, and most people can be cured of hepatitis C with 2 or 3 months of well-tolerated therapy. But these advances are still not reaching everyone who needs them. The search for a functional cure for HIV, better treatments for hepatitis B, and management of fatty liver disease remain major challenges for the year ahead.

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EACS 2017: European Cure Review Concentrates on HIV Therapeutic Vaccines

A cure for HIV would almost inevitably have to involve a vaccine to improve the body’s natural ability to control HIV, speakers said at a recent seminar on European HIV cure research. The STEPS seminar, put on by the European AIDS Treatment Group (EATG) ahead of the European AIDS Conference in Milan in October, also heard that, in the words of EATG member and European Community Advisory Board chair Giulio Maria Corbelli, "Cure research reminds us of the importance of patient involvement from the very earliest phases of the development of treatment and prevention."

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A Message To Our Readers

As of the new year, HIVandHepatitis.com will be transferred to Smart + Strong, the publisher of POZ, Hep, Real Health, and the new Cancer Health magazines and websites. HIVandHepatitis.com will remain online as an archive for the near future but will not publish new content. HIVandHepatitis.com editor Liz Highleyman is now editor-in-chief of Cancer Health.

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EACS 2017: Up to a Quarter of HIV-Negative Gay Men Attending 3 English Clinics Used PrEP in the Last Year

A prospective cohort study of gay men attending 3 clinics in southern England --56 Dean Street and Mortimer Market Centre in London and the Brighton & Hove SHAC (Sexual Health & Contraception) service -- have found that 23% of HIV-negative service users who responded to a follow-up questionnaire had used PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) in the last year. These interim results from the AURAH2 study were presented recently at the 16th European AIDS Conference (EACS 2017) in Milan.

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HIV Cure Summit Hears About New Remission Case

The past year brought no major breakthroughs in the search for an HIV cure, but a growing understanding of how the virus hides in the body bring us closer to strategies for long-term remission, researchers and advocates said at the 2017 HIV Cure Summit in San Francisco.

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Coverage of the 16th European AIDS Conference

HIVandHepatitis.com and NAM coverage of the 16th European AIDS Conference (EACS 2017), October 25-27 2017, in Milan.

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San Francisco Getting to Zero Update Hears U=U Message

San Francisco continues to make progress in reducing new HIV infections and expanding access to early treatment, according to a World AIDS Day update on the city's Getting to Zero initiative, held on November 29, 2017.

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EACS 2017: HIV Diagnoses in English Gay Men Have Been Falling Since 2014

A new analysis by Public Health England of testing rates and HIV diagnoses from all of England’s sexual health clinics shows that the decline in diagnoses is England-wide, started at least a year before the decline was first noticed at London's 56 Dean Street clinic, and is not restricted to gay men who test frequently.

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BHIVA 2017: Despite Reassuring Data, We Can’t Yet Say U=U for Breastfeeding

While effective HIV treatment greatly reduces the risk of onward transmission during breastfeeding, it does not appear that the risk is zero, a leading pediatrician told the British HIV Association (BHIVA) conference last month in London last week.

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EACS 2017: High HIV Incidence from Non-Primary Partners and Low PEP and PrEP Use Seen in PARTNER Study

HIV incidence among the HIV-negative gay men in the PARTNER 1 and 2 studies, due to sex with partners outside their main relationship, was high, and very high among partners who admitted having condomless anal sex with non-primary partners, researchers reported at the recent 16th European AIDS Conference (EACS 2017) in Milan.

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FDA Approves Juluca Dual Single-Tablet Regimen

On November 21, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Juluca, a fixed-dose coformulation containing dolutegravir and rilpivirine, for the treatment of adults with HIV who have undetectable viral load on their current antiretroviral regimen. Juluca, a joint product of ViiV Healthcare and Janssen, is the first complete single-tablet regimen containing only 2 drugs.

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EACS 2017: Swiss Study Examines When Gay Men Decided to Stop Consistent Condom Use

An innovative study presented at the 16th European AIDS Conference (EACS 2017) in Milan in October used a machine-learning algorithm (originally developed to help astronomers classify galaxies) to tease out whether there were specific groups of gay men within a large national cohort whose sexual risk behaviors followed similar trajectories over time, and if so, whether they were influenced by external factors such as new scientific data.

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EACS 2017: New European Guidelines Cover HIV, Hepatitis C, and Related Conditions

Everyone with HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV) coinfection should receive direct-acting antiviral therapy for hepatitis C and should receive the same treatment regimens for hepatitis C as people with HCV monoinfection, new European guidelines issued at the 16th European AIDS Conference recommend.

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EACS 2017: Survey of Dating App Users Finds that PrEP Usage Has Not Increased in Europe in the Last Year

A study of men who have sex with men (MSM) conducted by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) in collaboration with the gay contact site Hornet has found that pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) usage has not increased, on average, among its respondents over the proportion reported last year, when a similar survey was carried out. The results were presented recently at the 16th European AIDS Conference (EACS 2017) in Milan.

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EACS 2017: Fostemsavir Controls Viral Load in Half of People with Highly Drug-Resistant HIV

Fostemsavir, a new experimental attachment inhibitor, suppressed viral load in over half of participants with extensive drug resistance when added to a background regimen selected by resistance testing, Max Lataillade of ViiV Healthcare reported at the recent 16th European AIDS Conference in Milan.

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EACS 2017: Boosted Protease Inhibitor + Lamivudine Effective for HIV Maintenance Treatment

HIV maintenance treatment with 2 drugs, a boosted protease inhibitor and lamivudine, is just as effective as 3-drug treatment with a boosted protease inhibitor for people who already have fully suppressed viral load, according to a meta-analysis of clinical trials presented last weekat the 16th European AIDS Conference (EACS 2017) in Milan.

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Coverage of IDWeek 2017

HIVandHepatitis.com coverage of IDWeek 2017, held October 4-8, 2017, in San Diego.

• Long-Acting Monoclonal Antibody Effective Against Multidrug-Resistant HIV
• Single-Tablet Protease Inhibitor Regimen Maintains Viral Suppression for a Year

11/30/17

EACS 2017: ABX464 Reduces HIV Reservoir But Does Not Delay Vial Rebound

ABX464, a new drug that stimulates the clearance of HIV from infected cells, reduces the reservoir of HIV DNA in the body but does not delay the rebound of viral load when antiretroviral treatment is interrupted, Linos Vandekerckhove of the University of Ghent reported at the 16th European AIDS Conference (EACS 2017) last week in Milan.

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Many Americans Still Get HIV Diagnosis Years After Infection, CDC Says

Many people with HIV in the United States are still being diagnosed with HIV late, and therefore are not getting the full therapeutic and prevention benefits of starting antiretroviral therapy (ART) early, according to the latest Vital Signs report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), released in advance of World AIDS Day.

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EACS 2017: Symtuza as Effective as Multi-Pill Combination in Previously Untreated People with HIV

The single-pill combination of darunavir, cobicistat, tenofovir alafenamide, and emtricitabine (Symtuza) is just as effective as a multi-pill combination of darunavir, cobicistat, emtricitabine, and the older tenofovir disoproxil fumarate formulation in previously untreated people with HIV, Chloe Orkin of the Royal London Hospital reported at the recet 16th European AIDS Conference (EACS 2017) in Milan.

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