Two Days Left: Support the When-To-Start Study!
Can the
expanded use of anti-HIV treatment in people
who are living with HIV be an effective
strategy for reducing HIV
transmission?
As you likely know, this is a hot topic in HIV research right now. And for prevention justice activists, it brings up difficult questions about how to ensure the rights and health of both HIV positive and HIV negative people are honored in these approaches.
To answer these questions, we need to learn the impact of early treatment in the lives and health of people living with HIV. But a key study looking at the may not continue, due to changes in the national antiretroviral treatment guidelines.
We are requesting individual and organizational endorsements in support of a statement from the INSIGHT (International Network for Strategic Initiatives in Global HIV Trials) Community Advisory Board, one of six HIV clinical trials networks funded by the National Institutes of Health. Read the statement and to lend your support for this important study.
Deadline for endorsements is April 30, 2010.
Background information:
As you may know, the U.S. HIV Treatment Guidelines Panel recently changed its recommendation for when to start HIV treatment, raising it from 350 to 500 CD4 cells. This change was not without controversy, since there is no conclusive evidence that starting treatment earlier is better. A large-scale randomized control trial that could clearly provide this evidence-called START (Strategic Timing of Antiretroviral Treatment)-is still in its critical pilot phase.
As the result of this new treatment recommendation, there are now concerns that INSIGHT Network's ability to enroll the expected 4,000 volunteers for START might be jeopardized. What's more, as we face longer waiting lists for AIDS Drug Assistance Programs and the call for treating everyone who test positive, we need the critical answers that can be provided by the START trial more than ever, or we risk putting people on treatment prematurely, with unknown long-term side effects and the risk of drug resistance in life-long therapy.
We believe that the priority for HIV-positive people is to have accurate, reliable data on both the risks and benefits of earlier treatment in order to base any decision for when to start treatment. We fully support this study and invite you to endorse the importance of this research.
To read the statement and to lend your support for this important study, please go to: http://www.hivresearchcatalystforum.org/endorse-start-study
Deadline for endorsements is April 30, 2010. Thanks. And thank you to Treatment Action Group for sending us this alert.
As you likely know, this is a hot topic in HIV research right now. And for prevention justice activists, it brings up difficult questions about how to ensure the rights and health of both HIV positive and HIV negative people are honored in these approaches.
To answer these questions, we need to learn the impact of early treatment in the lives and health of people living with HIV. But a key study looking at the may not continue, due to changes in the national antiretroviral treatment guidelines.
We are requesting individual and organizational endorsements in support of a statement from the INSIGHT (International Network for Strategic Initiatives in Global HIV Trials) Community Advisory Board, one of six HIV clinical trials networks funded by the National Institutes of Health. Read the statement and to lend your support for this important study.
Deadline for endorsements is April 30, 2010.
Background information:
As you may know, the U.S. HIV Treatment Guidelines Panel recently changed its recommendation for when to start HIV treatment, raising it from 350 to 500 CD4 cells. This change was not without controversy, since there is no conclusive evidence that starting treatment earlier is better. A large-scale randomized control trial that could clearly provide this evidence-called START (Strategic Timing of Antiretroviral Treatment)-is still in its critical pilot phase.
As the result of this new treatment recommendation, there are now concerns that INSIGHT Network's ability to enroll the expected 4,000 volunteers for START might be jeopardized. What's more, as we face longer waiting lists for AIDS Drug Assistance Programs and the call for treating everyone who test positive, we need the critical answers that can be provided by the START trial more than ever, or we risk putting people on treatment prematurely, with unknown long-term side effects and the risk of drug resistance in life-long therapy.
We believe that the priority for HIV-positive people is to have accurate, reliable data on both the risks and benefits of earlier treatment in order to base any decision for when to start treatment. We fully support this study and invite you to endorse the importance of this research.
To read the statement and to lend your support for this important study, please go to: http://www.hivresearchcatalystforum.org/endorse-start-study
Deadline for endorsements is April 30, 2010. Thanks. And thank you to Treatment Action Group for sending us this alert.