aids

NYC Protesters Arrested During ‘Die-In’ Linking HIV/AIDS Activism With Occupy Wall Street

by on December 1, 2011

Huffington Post…

About 10 protesters trying to draw attention to what they say is a dearth of funding for HIV/AIDS treatment, prevention and affordable housing were arrested Thursday near New York’s City Hall. A column of protesters — many of them dressed in green T-shirts layered over winter gear to evoke the 13th century English folk hero Robin Hood — marched around 11:30 a.m. from Zuccotti Park to Broadway and Park Place. Event organizers estimated that about 150 people participated, but some protesters interviewed outside City Hall put the event’s headcount at more than 200 people. The protest, held on World AIDS Day, marked what for many was the public unveiling of a connection between New York’s HIV/AIDS activist community and the Occupy Wall Street movement, event organizers said. Most of the protesters were members of organizations that advocate for those living with HIV/AIDS in New York City and people involved in Occupy Wall Street’s LGBT working group. Since the Occupy Wall Street movement started in Zuccotti Park in September, protesters in New York and other cities have almost universally decried growing income inequality. Many have called for modern-day efforts to redistribute wealth from the nation’s wealthiest 1 percent to the remaining 99 percent of the population. For many around the globe and in the United States, there is a strong connection between HIV/AIDS infection, treatment and income. “It’s a lie when we’re told there isn’t enough money to fight AIDS,” said Felix Rivera-Pitre, a leader with the nonprofit VOCAL-NY, in a statement released by the organization Thursday. VOCAL-NY is an advocacy organization for people living with HIV/AIDS. “The reality is that Wall Street crashed our economy, and now politicians are saying there’s less money for basic needs like health care and housing,” added Rivera-Pitre, who is living in a homeless shelter and has HIV/AIDS. Rivera-Pitre was among those arrested Thursday and was also jailed in connection with an Occupy Wall Street protest earlier this month. In July, the CDC issued a report indicating that there is a strong relationship between poverty and HIV infection among heterosexuals living in urban portions of the United States. Poor people have limited access to sexual health care services that may allow for safer sex, early detection and treatment of the disease, according to the report. Homeless people and those with unstable housing situations also have a more difficult time prioritizing health concerns, receiving medical care or sticking to a treatment regimen, said Sean Barry, executive director of VOCAL-NY. Many also exchange sex for housing, he said. “We believe that income inequality and the effects of poverty also help to explain some of the racial disparities in HIV infection among gay men,” Barry said. As the group of protesters neared city hall Thursday, 12 people who had bound themselves together with metal chains walked into the street at Broadway and Park Place. At first, the group stood in the intersection, obstructing traffic. Within 15 minutes, police moved in and cleared one lane of traffic. The remaining protesters laid down on the street, refusing to move. By 12:40 p.m., all of the protesters had been carried away and forcibly cleared from the street. Police officials did not respond to a request for comment Thursday. Protesters said more than three dozen officers responded to the demonstrations and were involved in making arrests. Event organizers called the effort an act of civil disobedience and a “die-in.” The term is a reference to a sit-in, a non-violent protest tactic that involves occupying a place peacefully and refusing to move until demands are met — first widely employed by Mohandas Gandhi in South Africa and India, but widely used by civil rights protesters, anti-war activists and student groups in the United States in the 1960s and 1970s. In the 1980s, die-ins were a tactic utilized by ACT UP, a group that has long worked to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS and to demand increases in public funding for treatment and research. After the die-in and arrests, several VOCAL-NY members lingered on the scene. About 15 officers also stood nearby. “It went beautifully,” said Wayne Starks, a board member of VOCAL-NY who is 51 and living with AIDS. The big issue for Starks, and many of the other activists on Broadway, is the extension of the so-called millionaire’s tax . “We tried to send a message to our government about how we need to stop cutting funding to fight AIDS and start sending cuts to billionaires,” he said. Starks said he spent a lot of time in Zuccotti Park before police cleared it out more than two weeks ago, although he did not regularly spend the night there. He said he thinks Occupy Wall Street and VOCAL-NY have essentially the same goals. “It’s human rights. They want affordable housing, we want affordable housing. They want jobs, we need jobs too,” he said. “The history of AIDS activism is one of the best modern day examples of the power of political protests to bring about social change,” Barry said. “People think it’s merely a health issue, but let’s face it — if HIV did not primarily affect gay men of all races and poor women of color, our government would be taking this issue more seriously. What we’re doing today is our effort to really make the connection again between the health and politics, the messages of Occupy Wall Street and how mass inequality imperils us all.” The protesters behind Thursday’s march say they have two specific demands. The group would like to see a .02 percent tax implemented on financial transactions , and would like to ensure that the millionaire’s tax is not allowed to expire on Dec. 31. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said that he would like to see the tax expire because it deters hiring and spending. The Bloomberg administration has also cut more than $10 million from funding to support housing for those living with HIV or AIDS, according to the statement released by VOCAL-NY.

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Strauss-Kahn To Plead Not Guilty On Monday

by Adam J. Rose on June 5, 2011

Huffington Post…

By Basil Katz NEW YORK (Reuters) – Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn will plead not guilty Monday to charges he tried to rape a New York hotel maid, an accusation that has wrecked his chance of becoming France’s next president. Praised for his role tackling the 2007-09 global financial crisis and attempts to keep Europe’s debt crisis under control, Strauss-Kahn, 62, is facing up to 25 years in prison if convicted on charges of a criminal sexual act, attempted rape, sex abuse, unlawful imprisonment and forcible touching. His lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, told Reuters that Strauss-Kahn will plead not guilty to the charges in New York Supreme Court before Judge Michael Obus Monday. Strauss-Kahn quit as managing director of the International Monetary Fund a few days after his May 14 arrest in the first-class section of an Air France plane, minutes before it was to depart New York for Paris. He is accused of attacking a 32-year-old African immigrant a few hours earlier when she came to clean his suite at the luxury Sofitel hotel in Midtown Manhattan, apparently believing it had been vacated. Strauss-Kahn, who has four daughters, said in his IMF resignation letter that he denies the charges but his court appearance Monday will be the start of what could be drawn-out legal proceedings. French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde and Mexican central bank chief Agustin Carstens both want to replace Strauss-Kahn at the Washington-based IMF. Lagarde is the strong favorite but some developing countries are upset about the long-held practice of choosing a European to head the fund. Until the alleged sexual assault in New York, Strauss-Kahn had been expected to quit his IMF post for a different reason — a bid to become the Socialist candidate for president of France. He had been a strong favorite to beat conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy at the polls next year. Instead, Strauss-Kahn spent four days in New York’s Rikers Island jail before he was released on $1 million cash bail and $5 million bond and placed under house arrest with 24-hour armed guards and electronic monitoring. He spent a few days in a Lower Manhattan apartment but is now living in a luxurious townhouse rented by his wife — French television journalist Anne Sinclair — in Manhattan’s TriBeCa district. The townhouse has a gym and home cinema and was last posted for sale for almost $14 million. A prosecutor estimated Strauss-Kahn would pay $200,000 a month for his security arrangements. Strauss-Kahn’s lawyer has said that although his client has a net worth of roughly $2 million, his wife, an heiress, has ”substantially greater assets.” So far, Sinclair has not displayed any hesitation about using her personal wealth to help her husband. Strauss-Kahn also has been consulting with a posse of investigators and media advisers about how to deal with the criminal charges against him and how to limit any damage to his reputation from the allegations. (Additional reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Michelle Nichols and Eric Walsh) Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for Restrictions .

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30 yrs after first AIDS cases, hopes on the rise for a cure

June 4, 2011

30 yrs after first AIDS cases, hopes on the rise for a cure

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Cash-Strapped States Cut Funding For HIV, AIDS Drugs

May 23, 2011

Cash-strapped states are scaling back efforts to provide life-saving medicines to HIV patients. The result: more than 8,300 people — a record number — are on waiting lists in 13 states to get antiretrovirals and other drugs used to treat HIV and AIDS or the side effects, mental health conditions or opportunistic infections. And that number probably understates the need, say advocates, who note that many states have simply eliminated waiting lists or reduced eligibility.

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PHOTOS: Thousands Of Teachers Swarm Wall Street In Protest

May 12, 2011

Thousands of teachers, social workers, union members and more took part in a march Thursday against Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s plans for wide-ranging budget cuts — and against the Wall Street bankers they blame for the city’s budget woes. Activists reported that the NYPD had arrested several marchers, but the demonstration took on a mostly joyful cast, with colorful signs, raucous chants and even a stilt-walker. The May 12 Coalition ‘s organizers promised a big turnout of more than 10,000 marchers, and while immediately pinning down the crowd’s size proved difficult, at least that number turned out. Demonstrators from the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) alone, which faces more than 4,000 teacher cuts if Bloomberg’s budget is enacted as is, numbered in the thousands. Rev. Al Sharpton, UFT President Michael Mulgrew and an array of city councilmembers and state elected officials laid the blame for the budget cuts squarely at Bloomberg and Wall Street’s feet. “Wall Street recovered, hedge funds got stimulated, and now they want to lay off teachers and close day care centers,” Sharpton said. “We’re going where they sent the money,” he said of the march. Organizers claimed the city could prevent budget cuts by reinstating the state’s “Millionaire Tax,” ending subsidies for large companies that failed to meet job-creation targets and renegotiating city contracts with the big banks . They estimate their proposals could save New York City $1.5 billion and billed the event as a demonstration not just against the Bloomberg budget plan but also as an effort to “make the banks pay.” Randi Weingarten, president of the UFT’s parent organization, the American Federation of Teachers, noted she has traveled the country in the past few months fighting against teacher cuts in states across the nation. “I never expected to come home to see New York act like Wisconsin,” she told the crowd. Weingarten, like many others at one rally stage dedicated to the teacher cuts, disputed the Bloomberg administration’s argument that it cannot dip into a rainy day fund to pay for teachers’ salaries. “There are lots of places across the country where there are real budget crises,” Weingarten said. “New York is not one of them.” Ralliers included more than just teachers. A diverse coalition of groups took part in organizing the event, from the Coalition for the Homeless to the Communications Workers of America to HIV/AIDS advocacy organization VOCAL-NY. Rev. John Magisano, a pastor at a Chelsea church, said he was worried the cuts forecast in the administration’s budget could harm his neighborhood’s seniors and gay community. “Everyone’s feeling the pain but them,” he said of the country’s large banks. The mayor’s spending plan would cut $30 million dollars from programs for the homeless. Advocacy group Coalition for the Homeless attended the march in protest, along with members of the population they serve. “I’m out here because we have no home,” said Kassandra Ward, who pushed her son in a stroller at the rally. She said she lost her job and home as a result of the recession, and was worried that the mayor’s budget would make her situation worse. “The city and the banks, they’re taking out money… they’re not doing anything.” Devon Murphy, a teacher at Passages Academy, said he attended “in solidarity with all the teachers across New York City.” He was not sure if the mayor’s cuts might hit him and his colleagues, but wanted to come anyways. “I don’t have a clue if it’s going to affect me,” Murphy said, “but it will affect some of us. You never know.” Some unions have charged that Bloomberg’s budget, proposed last Friday, serves more as an opening negotiating gambit than a final word on how many jobs and programs the city will cut. Murphy said he was not sure how serious the mayor was about his cuts. “He’s a hard person to read,” he added.

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Health Care For All Nears Reality In One State

May 11, 2011

MONTPELIER, Vt. — Accustomed to being the first to dip its toe into hot-button issues, Vermont is preparing to provide public health care to all residents regardless of income, moving toward a government-run system that will take it as close to Canada philosophically as it is geographically. Gov. Peter Shumlin is expected to sign legislation this month marking the first step on the path to phasing out most private insurance. The effort puts Vermont well in front of last year’s federal health care overhaul. The ultimate goal, Shumlin said recently, is a Canadian-style system “where health care is a right and not a privilege.” But it’s not clear yet how Vermont – the first state to ban slavery in its constitution and to give marriage-like rights to same-sex couples – will achieve universal health care. The legislation places responsibility for the details of the new system, including how to pay for it, in the hands of a powerful new state board. Vermont’s turn toward universal care comes as more than two dozen states have gone in the opposite direction, suing to overturn the federal law. The U.S. House last week voted to strip federal funding from key parts of it, though that move is expected to die in the Senate. While the federal law requires people to have health insurance and offers subsidies to help low- and moderate-income people buy it, Vermont would go further. It would change the way doctors and hospitals are paid and streamline the processing of insurance claims. The federal law was modeled in part on Massachusetts’ groundbreaking 2006 system that required all residents to have health insurance; unlike the Vermont plan, the Massachusetts program does not provide health care to all but does offer subsidized insurance to those can’t otherwise afford it. The Vermont bill sets up a five-member board which, in consultation with the executive branch and Legislature, is to answer the big unanswered questions in this year’s bill. Those include how the system will be paid for – some have suggested a payroll tax on employers and workers; what benefits will be covered; what copays and deductibles it would include; and other details. “Vermont is leading the way in having an authentic discussion about what a universal health care system would look like in the state,” said Katie Robbins of Healthcare NOW. The Philadelphia-based group supports single-payer health care, under which everyone gets coverage from the same government-run system, similar to what military personnel have now. Despite the growing opposition to the federal law, Vermont, where liberal Democrats control the governor’s office and both houses of the Legislature, is undaunted in moving in the direction of Canada, which pays for its health care system through taxes. And supporters say the state has built-in advantages. Vermont, with a small population of about 620,000, is often ranked as one of the healthiest states. It is well below the national average for infant mortality, childhood obesity, AIDS diagnoses and a range of other indicators of poor health, according to figures kept by the Kaiser Family Foundation. The Census Bureau reported that, in 2007, Vermont ranked sixth in the country in physicians per capita, with 374 per 100,000, versus a national average of 271 per 100,000. And about 90 percent of Vermonters have some form of health insurance already. But some of those with insurance say it falls far short of what they need. Heather Loughlin, 42, was working as a vice president at the Sugarbush ski resort when she was diagnosed 2 1/2 years ago with multiple sclerosis. Before long, she found herself no longer able to work and buying insurance with a subsidy from the state under a current program, but with a private insurer. A thick stack of coverage denial letters later, Loughlin said, she was back living with her parents in Ludlow, who were going into debt in their retirement to help her meet her medical costs. “It doesn’t matter if you’re paying $300 or $400 a month for insurance,” Loughlin said. “It’s a mirage.” She called the repeated coverage denial letters “mind-boggling and enraging. They just try to wear you down.” Advocates for changing the system brought hundreds of people with stories like that to hearings and rallies at the Statehouse last year and again this spring. James Haslam of the Vermont Workers Center, which spearheaded a campaign under the banner “Health Care Is A Human Right,” said the legislation wouldn’t have passed without the grass-roots support. “If other people want this in their states, they have to start organizing their neighbors,” he said. The bill indicates that the state would “maximize the receipt of federal funds” to help pay for the new health care system. But Vermont’s prospects of receiving federal money are uncertain amid efforts by Republicans in Congress to chip away at the federal overhaul. “The big hole in Vermont’s plan has always been its failure to specify a funding source,” said Shawn Shouldice of the National Federation of Independent Business, which opposes the legislation. “The only clearly defined funding element was the federal grant money … and now that could vanish, as well.” William Hsiao, a Harvard health care economist and consultant to the drafters of Vermont’s legislation, has called for a payroll tax shared by employers and workers. But lawmakers put off a decision on that, some saying they wanted a way to tax non-wage income to support the program as well. There are also doubts the bill really will move Vermont toward a genuine single-payer system. It leaves room for people to buy supplemental insurance, and among the big questions is whether workers at IBM and some of the major employers in the state, whose self-insurance systems are regulated under federal law, will be allowed to be absorbed into Vermont’s system. In a move crucial to the project’s success, backers say, the board will design and administer new cost-control measures, including “global budgeting” for hospitals and other health care providers. Instead of the traditional “fee-for-service” system in which doctors are paid by the patient visit or procedure performed, the new system will be designed to pay for providing necessary health care to a given population. A senior health researcher at the conservative Heritage Foundation in Washington warned, though, that Vermont may want to be careful in playing with the financial incentives that can influence how health care systems develop over time. In some other countries, Ed Haislmaier of Heritage said, the sort of “global budgeting” Vermont envisions ends up with less acutely ill patients with longer hospital stays. “Hospitals turn into nursing homes,” he said. The bill calls for maintaining and expanding the state’s Blueprint for Health program, which is designed to streamline and provide better preventive care to people with chronic conditions like heart disease and diabetes. Rep. Mark Larson, chairman of the Health Care Committee in the Vermont House and a key architect of the legislation, acknowledged that the bill is really a planning document and that its supporters have much left to prove. After the House gave the bill final approval 94-49 Thursday, he said, “I think today’s vote reflects people saying, ‘OK, you’ve made your case. Now show me.’”

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Kenneth Cole, Compass Partners Launch Support For College-Aged Social Entrepreneurs

April 1, 2011

NEW YORK — As famous for his side-buckle shoes as for his work combining the political and sartorial, designer Kenneth Cole on Friday announced his latest effort to promote activism and engagement at the community level. Awearness , Cole’s philanthropic foundation, has pledged $500,000 to the nonprofit group Compass Partners, launching a partnership to support and mentor college-aged entrepreneurs aiming to develop the next generation of socially-conscious businesses. The effort is not Cole’s first foray into the world of social activism: he serves as chairman of the American Foundation for AIDS Research and has supported similar community engagement programs at Columbia and Emory universities. Awearness’ support for the two-year Compass Fellowship, presently on offer at nine schools, will help the organization to expand its training and mentoring program to 15 universities by year’s end. Describing what initially attracted him to Compass, Cole said, “I was overwhelmed by the extent of their understanding, and the opportunity to affect a generation of individuals who still have a genuine sense of social justice. They want to and are inspired to maintain and create a meaningful and sustainable difference. They also want to do it globally.” Compass Partners , a 2-year-old nonprofit founded by onetime fair-trade tea dealer Neil Shah and would-be farmer’s market delivery-service entrepreneur Arthur Woods, began as a project at Georgetown University while both Shah and Woods were still undergraduates (their other respective businesses ultimately shuttered). Sensing the need for greater support and training for socially-conscious businesses, the Compass Incubator gave way to the Compass Fellowship, which Awearness will support. Shah and Woods first contacted Cole after reading about his involvement with similar programs at Columbia and Emory. Describing their first encounter in New York, Shah said, “We didn’t know what to expect, but we explained what we were doing, and Kenneth said, ‘Let me know how I can help, give me a pitch.’ And it just blossomed into this relationship.” Cole, for his part, said he understands the need for greater resources for young, socially-minded entrepreneurs. “They’ve got a great sense of content, but not context,” he said. “They’re not taught how to do it — the skills of doing business.” Speaking to the importance of reaching college-aged students specifically, Cole said, “It’s so much easier to connect with people at that right point in their lives, when they believe that social justice is everyone’s right. While they’re students, they’re far more inclined to launch and experiment with new opportunities. In the real world, you don’t have the luxury of figuring it out along the way.”

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Mark W. Kline, M.D.: Fighting Sickle Cell Disease in Angola: Building Partnerships to Match the Challenge

March 22, 2011

Angola has one of the world’s highest rates of sickle cell disease, but lacked a formal, organized effort to fight it — until now. A history-making agreement was signed today in the capital of Luanda, initiating the West African nation’s first program to address a disease that likely affects some 6,000 babies born in Angola each year. Even though a fifth of Angola’s roughly 17 million people have the sickle cell trait, information on the number of children affected is sketchy, as only a fraction are diagnosed. Serious complications of the disease — including bacterial infections and stroke — mean that only about half of Angola’s affected children reach age 2. The disease is a major contributor to Angola’s child mortality rate, among the world’s highest. A staggering one in four Angolan children will die before they reach their fifth birthday. The good news is that we now have the tools to change this bleak outlook for African children born with sickle cell disease — in exactly the same way we now expect American children with the disease to live long and full lives. The key is early diagnosis and treatment. That’s the focus of a new public-private partnership of the Republic of Angola, the Baylor International Pediatrics AIDS Initiative (BIPAI) — a joint program of Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital — and Chevron. Based on experience in the United States — which accounts for less than one percent of the estimated 300,000 to 500,000 global cases of sickle cell disease each year and where newborn screening is universal — the program’s pilot will begin with newborn screening and subsequent treatment at two large maternity hospitals in Luanda. The project, designed by leading global sickle cell disease expert Dr. Russell Ware in close coordination with BIPAI and medical experts in Angola, is comprehensive. Following the pilot, the goal will be to expand subsequent phases to Angola’s 18 provinces, simultaneously building Angola’s capacity to address the disease through public health policies, health training and the dissemination of clinical research. Why is Angola’s need so acute? Although rich in natural resources such as diamonds and oil – Angola is the second-largest oil producer in sub-Saharan Africa and the 7th largest supplier to the U.S. — Angola is only eight years removed from a 27-year civil war that devastated its infrastructure, including its healthcare system, and severely impacted its socio-economic development. Why this particular partnership? To help its children, the Angolan government reached out to Chevron. Not only has Chevron operated in Angola for more than 50 years, it also has been a driver of the successful Angola Partnership Initiative, a multipartner, multiyear effort to rebuild Angola’s agricultural sector and promote small business [outside the oil industry]. Chevron, in turn, reached out to experts — in this disease, in pediatric medicine and, as in the case of Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital, to organizations with a proven track record establishing medical capacity building programs. To make headway against such a disease, especially in a time of limited resources, the engagement of corporate partners is critical. Success depends on building smart partnerships — that include the core strengths of leading global companies — that match the size of the challenge. But why do Angola’s health issues concern business? Only with a healthy local workforce and a healthy local economy can a business, global or local, operate successfully over the long term. It’s in the interests of business to help address unmet basic human needs — health, education and economic development — that pose risks to any community. Chevron has learned that success depends on committed partners, with unique and complementary resources, who collaborate — the same ingredients at work in other partnerships Chevron engages in around the globe. Partners with strategically aligned strengths are even more effective vehicles for bringing focused action to diseases such HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. As with its other partnerships, Chevron’s $4 million investment in this new alliance comes with a hands-on commitment to achieve lasting results: the involvement of its employees and business partners. The agreement signed today is only the beginning of giving more of Angola’s children a greater chance at life .. and moving Angola one step closer to harnessing its vast national potential. We all have a stake in helping write history like that.

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Video: Sangamo Gene Tests Inspired by One Man’s AIDS ‘Cure’

February 11, 2011

Feb. 11 (Bloomberg) — Sangamo Biosciences Inc. is developing a new form of gene therapy driven by the case of patient Timothy Brown who may be the only person that’s ever been cured of AIDS. Brown received a stem-cell transplant in Berlin in 2007 that transferred genetic material to him from one of the 2 percent of people with natural immunity to HIV, Bloomberg Businessweek reports in its Feb. 14 issue. He’s been off treatment since then, and no trace of the AIDS virus has been found in his body, according to Brown’s hematologist. Bloomberg’s Shannon Pettypiece reports. (Source: Bloomberg)

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David Isenberg: PMC: Past, Present, and Future

December 31, 2010

Hmm, celebrate my birthday today or write the final PMC post for 2010? Hey, I’m a multitasking man; no reason I can’t do both. It’s been precisely a year and eight days since I first started writing on private military and security contracting issues for the Huffington Post. I started on Dec. 23, 2009, with this piece ” Contractors ‘R U.S. ” Since then I wrote, including this one, 224 posts, or 61 percent of the time. Thanks to Huffington Post management for letting me do so much. Of course, the fact that I’ve not yet been able to find fulltime work after returning to the United States in late 2009 has given me time to write. I’d like to find one though, so in case there is an employer out there looking for someone please feel free to contact me. The beginning sentence in my first post was “Welcome to the wonderful, and frequently wacky, world of military and foreign policy outsourcing and privatization.” A one year anniversary seems sufficient reason to muse a bit about that world. Guess what; it’s still wacky but there are a few signs that at least the public debate about it is becoming a bit more rational. Of course, that may not be saying much, given how low the bar has been set in the past when it comes to public discussion of the issue, but one takes what one can get. Thanks to work by groups ranging from the Commission on Wartime Contracting, Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, various NGOs, some outstanding reporters, some very good bloggers, and even a relatively few farsighted officials within the PMSC industry itself critical and key issues like oversight and accountability are moving, albeit slowly, from rhetoric to reality. Note: that is not to say everything is fine and dandy in the PMSC world. Of course, it is not. But the trend is positive, even if the upward slope is an exceedingly gentle incline, instead of a sharp angle. What is important to think about in the future regarding private contractors? Note that I did not write private military or private security contractors. That is not an oversight, pardon the pun. The use of private contractors to do things formerly done by people in government is vastly more widespread than commonly thought and goes far beyond those carrying guns or serving food in a dining facility and delivering supplies to troops under a LOGCAP contract, to name the two main divisions in what the government persists in politely calling “contingency operations.” Note to the younger generation: this is what, back in the 20th century, we used to call war. Just looking at the so-called national security realm contractors are widespread in the intelligence community, they are critical to the Department of Homeland Security, they do the majority of the work for the U.S. Agency for International Development. They are heavily involved in what will be the growing field of cyber defense and, if it comes to that, outright cyber war Just looking at some of the industry literature I have lying around, in 2010 contractors were supporting counter-narcotics work in Afghanistan, Mexico; and Nigeria (SOS International Ltd.), helping farmers in Pakistan and providing HIV/AIDS prevention in Ethiopia (International Relief and Development), proving Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) and mine clearance services (EODT and Pax Mondial), and provide training for Basic and Advanced Law of War that is required by the Pentagon for all contractors accompanying U.S. armed forces overseas. Speaking of literature, during the year I have frequently referred to and quoted from academic scholarship. If nothing else, the law journal articles I cited were at least good for helping you go to sleep. So for the last academic reference in 2010 let me refer you to an article published earlier this month. It is “Sovereignty and Privatizing the Military: An Institutional Explanation” by Ulrich Peterson, published in Contemporary Security Policy journal. He looks at some of the standard explanations for the rise of privatized military companies both in the United States and elsewhere and finds them insufficient. But he does find some uniquely American history to explain whey privatization finds such fertile ground in the United States. One consequence of the idea of shared sovereignty is that the federal state does not possess the exclusive right of maintaining the most powerful means by which oppression could be exercised: the armed forces. Although control over the use of force abroad is located at the federal level, it is not the exclusive right of the federal government to own means of violence. … It shares this privilege with the constituent states and even the citizens. The most important point is that in this crucial area of statehood, the idea of ‘sharing’ has already been introduced. Adding another actor therefore did not amount to a violation of a paradigm. This significantly lowered the barrier for the participation of market actors. The interaction of the principles of shared sovereignty and the minimal state led to extensive privatization in the armed forces. Second, although the state is of course supposed to defend its citizens, defensive force is not its sole prerogative. The right to own weapons and to use them in self-defence, some argue even against the state, is deeply rooted in American history. This notion of everybody’s right to self-defence paved the way for privatizing defensive services such as the protection of senior civilian officials, site security, and convoy security. Thus, the domestic structure and the international changes resonated well with each other and therefore facilitated extensive privatization. It’s an interesting argument and one that, on the face of it, makes sense. If you follow the logic of it far enough it means that the largest private security force in the United States would be the membership of the National Rifle Association. Perhaps it will be wooed by the International Stability Operations Association as its next member. At the end of my first post I wrote, “Before going any further let’s acknowledge that that vast majority of contractors working in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere are decent, honorable men and women, doing their best to do difficult jobs in dangerous and hazardous environments.” That is still true. Let’s hope that in the future those men and women have people in their management who are as good as they are. And to all of you who read these posts I wish you a very a very merry and serene 2011.

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Hamied Seeks Partner for Cipla to Sell Roche, Amgen Generic Drugs in China

June 15, 2010

By Adi Narayan June 16 (Bloomberg) — Cipla Ltd. , the Indian drugmaker that built a $1 billion business making generic HIV treatments, aims to sell copies of Roche Holding AG ’s and Amgen Inc. ’s best- selling biotechnology medicines with a partner in China. Cipla Chairman Yusuf Hamied plans to invest in companies in India and Hong Kong that make so-called monoclonal antibodies. The technology will enable Mumbai-based Cipla to gain access to products modeled on Roche’s Avastin and Herceptin cancer drugs and Amgen’s rheumatoid arthritis treatment Enbrel, Hamied said. The three medications generated $19 billion in sales last year. Cipla, India’s third-largest drugmaker by revenue, intends to sell its versions cheaper, making them more affordable. The same strategy of copying medicines developed by others helped the 75-year-old company become one of the largest suppliers of AIDS pills for developing nations. “Avastin, Enbrel, Herceptin — these are all being marketed today, but the prices are very high,” said Hamied, whose father founded the company in 1935, in a telephone interview yesterday. “We will have biosimilars for them.” Cipla advanced 1.5 percent to 343 rupees at 9:10 a.m. Mumbai time, while the benchmark Sensitive index added 0.5 percent. Hamster Ovaries Biotechnology drugs are made from proteins synthesized in living cells such as yeast and Chinese hamster ovaries. They are more complex, difficult to make and pricier than traditional pharmaceuticals, which consist of comparatively simple chemical compounds. Other Indian companies are expanding into this area. Biocon Ltd., India’s biggest biotechnology company, signed an agreement a year ago with Mylan Inc. to develop, make and market generic biologic drugs. Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd. , India’s second-biggest drugmaker, said in 2007 it began selling a version of the cancer medicine rituximab at about half the price of Roche’s original, called Rituxan. Under an agreement with Shanghai-based partner Desano Pharma , Cipla will have rights to market the biosimilars in India and overseas, Hamied said. Cipla will invest $65 million over three years buying 40 percent of a company based in the west Indian city of Goa and a 25 percent stake in a Hong Kong- based biotechnology company, Cipla said in a statement yesterday. Cipla is targeting 8 to 10 treatments for rheumatoid arthritis, colorectal cancer, allergic asthma, and head and neck cancer that aren’t covered by patents in India and China, according to a statement on the company’s website. The brand- name drugs generate about $30 billion a year in sales, Cipla said. Patent Protection Biotechnology drugs account for about 10 percent to 15 percent of the global pharmaceutical market and many of them are off-patent or will lose patent protection soon, Cipla said. “This investment will, therefore, enable Cipla to expand its business in this high technology and high growth segment,” the company said. Hamied said he may consider other sales and marketing ventures. “I am not hunting for partners, but if something comes up, we have an open mind with regard to partnerships,” he said. To contact the reporter on this story: Adi Narayan in Mumbai at anarayan8@bloomberg.net .

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Nancy F. Koehn: A New Damascus

May 24, 2010

Might the future of capitalism lie in its roots from the seventh millennium BC? Damascus is said to be the birthplace of capitalism–with scores of famous empires taking advantage of its proximity to the Barada River to build a system of canals and tunnels still in use today. Although these empires were often feuding for control, their ingenuity is a true testament to entrepreneurship, and a shining example of the positive effects of people coming together for a common cause. Flash forward to the 2008 World Economic Forum, when Bill Gates called for a new global economic system, one he called “creative capitalism.” In Gates’ vision, creative capitalism is an “approach where governments, businesses, and nonprofits work together to stretch the reach of market forces so that more people can make a profit, or gain recognition, doing work that eases the world’s inequities.” Gates has earned our ear (and for many of us, our respect) largely because he succeeded so convincingly playing the game of market or shareholder capitalism. Given Gates’ achievement, it is interesting that he laid down a gauntlet in which global capitalism directs itself toward social contribution as well as financial gain. Viewed through the lens of history, there are several powerful forces working on the system of global capitalism in our moment, propelling it along a broad path toward a New Damascus in which solving public problems–from the increasing volatility of the world financial system to the ticking time bomb of the planet’s environment–is as vital as maximizing return on equity. Indeed, along this new, broader road than market capitalism has previously traveled, the world’s biggest challenges represent the biggest business opportunities–and not only for large corporations but also for all those entrepreneurs beavering away in garages around the world. In the not so distant future, dealing with crises like Greece’s fiscal implosion or the oil spill in Louisiana will no longer be the sole or even primary purview of the nation state. Instead, business, large and small, will pour into the space previously crowded with government resources. Why? Because grappling with these kinds of problems will be part and parcel of how business delivers on (traditional) metrics like stock price and market valuation. At the same time, as the role and responsibilities of companies expand and older boundaries between business and society disintegrate, new metrics of performance, like employee engagement and customer loyalty, will emerge as equally important. Consider the forces of transformation today pushing global capitalism toward a New Damascus: The first is the issue of resources. Who has what to deal with the pressing challenges of our moment? If we think just about resources–people, innovation, traction, money, and execution–business is the most powerful force for change on the global stage right now. No other set of institutions–not religious organizations, not the nation-state, not individual NGOs–has the resources or the breadth and on-the-ground depth of knowledge of business to deal with what is front of us today. Yes, all these other players matter, in some cases a great deal. But not as much as business does–in the form of both large, global corporations and small-scale entrepreneurial enterprises. This is not philosophy or politics, but the ineluctable reality of our moment. A second force affecting the speed and direction of global capitalism comes from the demand side. There are millions–soon to be billions–of consumers, voters, and other actors, most obviously millenials or “Gen Yers”, who want something new and different from business, who conceive of business and the “flywheel” of global capitalism in distinctive ways than their counterparts have in past moments (and indeed than many boomers today). And these actors will exert great power in the next two decades. At the same time, the corporate form is changing very fast. New networks of companies and organizations are emerging; new ways of competing and collaborating are becoming more important. Old divisions are withering. The traditional widget-making company maximizing its own profit in a nationally defined space is evolving into something more complex and much more integrated into a broad, often global, web of relationships. A fourth catalyst is transparency. Leaders and organizations of all kinds are increasingly operating in glass houses. The explosion in transparency wrought by a global media, great leaps in connectivity, a generation of global citizens who demand novel, authentic commitments from organizations are creating new standards of conduct for even those actors least willing to change. Finally, though less obvious, there is a palpable thirst among people around the world for leadership that is not for sale, for individuals and organizations that are not solely defined by the transactional rhythms and white-hot speed of the marketplace. We can see this in the enduring popularity of entrepreneurial leaders such as Warren Buffett and Oprah Winfrey, individuals who have thrived in their respective industries partly because they consistently pursued something more then the next market-dictated score. All of these forces are gaining strength now, helping lay the pavement along which global capitalism will travel, as is evident in the success of large corporations that are meeting the needs of a broader set of stakeholders than shareholders. It is also evident in young enterprises now beginning to exert impact. Entrepreneurs and their creations have always been the sinews of capitalism. So we can look to an organization like RED, founded by Bono and Bobby Shriver, as an important example for where global capitalism is going. RED integrates the power of big business, new customer priorities, and the interconnected agents of social change, in the form of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The animating mission of RED is to harness two of the most potent forces operating today, business and consumer spending, in service to eradicating deadly disease in Africa. Since its launch in 2006, RED has generated $150 million for the Global Fund. This money had helped reach more than five million people with testing, counseling, treatment and services while helping put more than 145,000 HIV-positive men, women and children on antiretroviral therapy. This is creative; this is capitalism; and this is the future, a New Damascus right here on our doorstep.

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Gonorrhea May Become Untreatable as Antibiotics Efficacy Wanes, WHO Says

April 29, 2010

By Simeon Bennett April 29 (Bloomberg) — Gonorrhea may become untreatable as the improper use of antibiotics reduces their ability to clear the sexually transmitted infection, the World Health Organization said. There is now “widespread resistance” to cheaper first- line antibiotics against the bacterium that causes gonorrhea, the WHO’s Western Pacific regional office said in a statement today. The agency said Australia, Hong Kong and Japan have reported treatment failures with cephalosporin, a class of antibiotics that’s the last line of defense against the disease. “We are dealing with a serious issue with the implication that gonorrhea may become untreatable,” Shin Young-soo , the WHO’s regional director for the Western Pacific, said in the statement. “This will have a major impact on our efforts to control the disease and will result in an increase in serious health-related complications,” Shin said. The WHO and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have developed an action plan to improve monitoring for drug- resistant gonorrhea and identify alternative treatments against the disease, the Geneva-based agency said. Left untreated, gonorrhea can result in infertility, pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy, infections in newborn children and swelling of the scrotum, the WHO said. It also increases the likelihood of acquiring and transmitting HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. To contact the reporter on this story: Simeon Bennett in Singapore at sbennett9@bloomberg.net

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AIDS Vaccine Advances Give Researcher New Hope

April 23, 2010

JOHANNESBURG — A leader in the search for a vaccine against HIV, which causes AIDS, said Friday that recent advances have given scientists new reason for hope. In an interview with The Associated Press, Dr. Alan Bernstein, executive director of the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise, cited the world’s first successful test of an experimental AIDS vaccine. In September, researchers said the vaccine protected one in three people from getting HIV in a large study in Thailand. Bernstein also pointed to recent progress in determining whether people with HIV produce antibodies that could lead to a vaccine guarding against a variety of forms of HIV. He also said there is progress in mapping the many variations of what he called a “clever virus” that has so far eluded vaccine efforts because it kills some of the key cells needed to make a vaccine. “This is a very exciting time in the field,” Bernstein said. “A vaccine is possible, and we have the scientific tools now to turn that possibility into a reality.” Though he said the research effort has turned a corner after several setbacks, he cautioned a vaccine was still several years away. Others are far less optimistic. “I wish I could say I was. But I’m not,” said Salim Karim, director of the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa. “It’s proving to be a challenge that’s more complex than previously thought,” he said, adding he has spent 15 years researching a vaccine, and expected success to take at least another 15. Karim called the Thai study a “glimmer.” Scientists must now try to improve the vaccine so that it protects more than a third of the people who get it, and lasts for more than the six to 12 months it now appears to be effective. Questions have been raised about whether an HIV vaccine was possible, and even whether it made sense to devote time and energy to the pursuit. Bernstein said a comprehensive approach, that includes finding a vaccine, must be taken against AIDS. As head of an international group of major vaccine researchers and funders, Bernstein was in South Africa to discuss strategy with U.N. health and AIDS officials. South Africa, a country of some 50 million, has an estimated 5.7 million people infected with HIV, more than in any other country. In an announcement that marked a dramatic shift from the past, South African President Jacob Zuma pledged on World AIDS Day last year to embark on earlier and expanded treatment for HIV-positive South Africans. The program was to be formally launched this weekend. Bernstein said a vaccine would be particularly important for Africa, where prevention and treatment campaigns have proven costly. A vaccine, unlike an expensive lifetime regime of AIDS drugs, would be administered every few years. A vaccine “is the most effective public health measure we’ve come up with,” Bernstein said. The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, which focuses on research into vaccines against strains of HIV that are prevalent in the developing world, says a vaccine must be part of a comprehensive solution. It says “no major viral epidemic has even been defeated without a vaccine.” According to a new report summarizing findings presented at a 2009 conference of vaccine researchers, the vaccine hunt is “steadily moving ahead,” though HIV presents tough challenges. The report in the May issue of The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal says that the massive, international effort to find an AIDS vaccine has had important side effects, providing information for the development of other vaccines and treatment for other diseases. Eds: CORRECTS in graf 2 that test was successful, not vaccine; RAISES quote from other expert.

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U.S. Stocks Fluctuate as Apple, Morgan Stanley Offset Greek Debt Concerns

April 21, 2010

By Rita Nazareth April 21 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks swung between gains and losses as better-than-estimated earnings at Apple Inc. and Morgan Stanley overshadowed concern Greece will need to tap an emergency loan package to avoid default. Apple surged to a record after reporting results that soared past analysts’ estimates and Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs promised to release “more extraordinary products” this year. Morgan Stanley rose 3.6 percent, while Boeing Co. led the gains in the Dow Jones Industrial Average after profit topped estimates. Yahoo! Inc. retreated 3.7 percent following sales missing analysts’ projections. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index slipped less than 0.1 percent to 1,206.79 as of 11:01 a.m. in New York, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 15.65 points, or 0.1 percent, to 11,132.71. “Earnings look pretty strong,” said John Carey , a Boston- based money manager at Pioneer Investment Management, which oversees more than $230 billion. “Investors in general are responding to that. Obviously, there’s still some sovereign concern. But fundamentals are good.” Apple surged 5.8 percent to $258.88. Second-quarter profit almost doubled to $3.07 billion, or $3.33 a share, from $1.62 billion, or $1.79, a year earlier, Cupertino, California-based Apple said yesterday. Sales this quarter will be as high as $13.4 billion, topping the $13 billion anticipated by analysts. Boost From the IPad Jobs said the results added up to the best non-holiday quarter in Apple’s history. Sales in the coming months are likely to get a boost from the iPad, a tablet computer that went on sale April 3 in the U.S., and new gadgets that may include an updated iPhone, analysts said. The S&P 500 gets 19 percent of its value from technology stocks, the most among 10 industries. Morgan Stanley rose 3.6 percent to $31.54 after the New York-based company posted earnings that beat analysts’ estimates as fixed-income trading revenue more than doubled from a year earlier. Earnings from continuing operations, including a 21- cent tax benefit, were $1.03 a share, compared with the 57-cent average estimate of 24 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Boeing led industrial shares to the biggest gain in the S&P 500, rallying 3.6 percent to $73.99. The world’s largest aerospace and defense company reported first-quarter profit of 70 cents a share, beating the 64-cent average estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Yahoo slumped 3.7 percent to $17.70 as the second-most- popular U.S. Internet search engine forecast second-quarter sales that missed analysts’ estimates after the company lost market share. The company also reported first-quarter sales excluding revenue passed on to partner sites that totaled $1.13 billion, compared with the $1.17 billion average that analysts had projected. Gilead Gilead Sciences Inc. had the biggest decline in the S&P 500, tumbling 10 percent to $40.52 as the world’s largest maker of AIDS treatments lowered its forecast for 2010 revenue while sales of its drugs Truvada and Atripla fell short of estimates in the first quarter. AT&T Inc. dropped 1.3 percent to $26.31. The largest U.S. phone company said first-quarter sales amounted to $30.65 billion, compared with the $30.74 billion average of estimates in a Bloomberg survey. Greece began talks today on activating a 45 billion-euro ($61 billion) emergency aid package as the International Monetary Fund called the country’s fiscal crisis a “wake-up call” on sovereign-debt risks. Greek Deficit Cuts Greek officials joined counterparts from the euro region, the IMF and the European Central Bank to begin hammering out the deficit-cutting measures the nation will have to accept to be able to tap the funds. The government needs to raise about 10 billion euros before the end of May, and its soaring financing costs are lending urgency to the talks. The yield on Greece’s benchmark 10-year bond surpassed 8 percent today, the highest in more than a decade and more than twice the comparable German rate, while credit-default swaps on Greece surged 25 basis points to a record 488.5, according to CMA DataVision prices at 11:25 a.m. in London. Contracts on Portugal jumped 18 basis points to 219, and Spain climbed 6 to 151.2, CMA prices show. “There’s still concern about a domino effect from the Greece situation,” said Stanley Nabi , New York-based vice chairman of Silvercrest Asset Management Group, which manages $8.5 billion. “Are Portugal, Italy or Spain the next ones? In the U.S., you’re seeing very decent earnings reports. But Europe brings concern about the sustainability of the recovery.” U.S. stocks rose for a second day yesterday as companies from Harley-Davidson Inc. to Marshall & Ilsley Corp. posted better-than-estimated results and energy producers rallied with crude oil. About 83 percent of S&P 500 companies that have reported first-quarter results beat the average analyst earnings estimate, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. When 79.5 percent topped projections in the fourth quarter of 2009, it was the biggest proportion in Bloomberg data going back to 1993. To contact the reporters on this story: Julie Cruz in Frankfurt at jcruz6@bloomberg.net ; Rita Nazareth in New York at rnazareth@bloomberg.net

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Tahir Amin and Priti Radhakrishnan: When Medical Patents Weaken Health Care

April 1, 2010

As the health care debate limps forward, it’s time to consider a related but entirely overlooked topic: the availability of medicines. Ironically, the greatest barrier to making existing medicines more available or innovating new ones is an abused patent system. One major step forward — especially in developing countries — is to stop approving many frivolous drug patent applications. Yes, stop. As intellectual property lawyers, we know that without legal protection, scientific and commercial daring will wither. But in the pharmaceutical field, the patent system has recently become less a legitimate ally of invention and more a manipulative crutch for profit seeking. Fortunately, change may be coming for the patients who most need it — HIV/AIDS sufferers. Here’s how the system works in theory: when a drugmaker is granted a patent, the company is usually given a 20-year window of exclusivity to sell the medicine, after which the drug compound becomes available in the public domain. Quite often, generic manufacturers then enter the market and produce the medication at significantly lower prices. Pharmaceutical companies anticipate the end of exclusivity and pour resources into developing the next innovative treatment. Private actors who work hard to innovate should get a competitive advantage and the monopoly protection a patent confers. Private actors who bankroll lawyers to “innovate” multiple frivolous patent applications should not get the same privileges. But they are. Instead of looking for what’s next, the global pharmaceutical industry is exploiting its current stockpile. Often easier than creating new medicines, companies use patent laws around the world to harden their monopolies and protect their sales. Their method is to make slight changes to medications and submit new patent applications claiming entirely new innovations. These alterations usually don’t change the therapeutic impact of the drug. They don’t generate additional clinical benefits but rather simply represent a different method of manufacture, delivery, or storage. Frivolously extending old patents halts generic production and sales. The results are especially disastrous for HIV/AIDS sufferers. Especially in the developing world, when lower-cost generic versions of medications are not available, millions of poor people go without treatment because they cannot afford the patented drug. But there may be hope. Recent decisions by the Indian Patent Office establish a new standard of clinical benefit for the patient, by which patent applications are judged, making it more difficult for pharmaceutical companies to keep claiming exclusivity. This standard will be very helpful in a pending case. Abbott Laboratories has filed a patent application for the drugs Lopinavir/Ritonavir, arguably the most vital protease inhibitors in the world and essential to prevent the onset of AIDS in HIV-positive patients. But this is not the first time Abbott has sought a patent for Lopinavir/Ritonavir. In fact, it is the 30th time. Since 1992, the company has made dozens of minor modifications to the basic compound and sought patent approval around the globe in order to cement its monopoly. This time, in India, Abbott has combined several existing — and already patented! -techniques to help patients store the medicine without refrigeration, and take fewer pills. We applaud this move. But it is simply not a new invention, and each modification Abbott is adding has already been patented. Pharmaceutical companies can’t hide behind the periodic table of elements to defend their manipulation of patent systems. If the Indian Patent Office follows its new string of decisions and rejects the application, generic drugmakers are ready. Indian generic companies already supply developing countries with the cheapest possible HIV drugs. Competition led by the Indian manufacturers has brought ARV prices down from $10,000 per patient, per year, in 2000 to $130 in 2009. The numbers that really count are human. Generic Lopinavir/Ritonavir could save 200,000 lives in 43 countries. One drug, one rejected patent, one cost savings, 200,000 lives. And that’s just the beginning. Worldwide, there are almost ten million patients who need HIV drugs. Most can’t afford them. If the developing world flexed its new global muscles and established a 21st century standard of clinical benefit for patenting pharmaceuticals, tens of millions of lives would be healthier. From the patent office to human betterment. Isn’t that what the UK Parliament had in mind in 1624 when it authorized the first patent system? Let’s bring it into the modern age for modern needs. Let’s make denying weak patents the new frontier of science for patients.

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Genital Herpes Virus Infects One in Six Americans, Study by U.S. CDC Finds

March 9, 2010

By Tom Randall March 9 (Bloomberg) — Genital herpes, a condition that produces painful sores and increases transmission of AIDS, has infected one in six Americans, according to a U.S. survey that shows prevention efforts haven’t stopped outbreaks. The study, conducted from 2005 through 2008, found the infection rate didn’t change significantly from a previous report from 1999 to 2004. It was released today by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. There’s no cure for herpes, which has two forms. Herpes simplex virus type 1 typically causes blisters known as cold sores near the mouth. Type 2 forms blisters near the genitals. Most infected people don’t know they have the virus and spread it to partners through sexual contact even when they’re not experiencing symptoms, according to the CDC . “This study serves as a stark reminder that herpes remains a common and serious health threat,” said Kevin Fenton , director of the CDC’s National Center for STD Prevention. “We are particularly concerned about persistent high rates of herpes among African-Americans, which is likely contributing to disproportionate rates of HIV in the black community.” The data were taken from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a federal report that draws from questionnaires and medical records. GlaxoSmithKline Plc’s Valtrex pill, approved to treat symptoms and reduce the frequency of outbreaks, had sales of $1.29 billion last year. The London-based company also makes an over-the-counter cream called Abreva, which shortens healing time and soothes infections. The amino acid lysine, available as a dietary supplement, has been found in studies to reduce symptoms and outbreaks. To contact the reporter on this story: Tom Randall in New York at trandall6@bloomberg.net .

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HIV Discoverer Criticizes Singapore for Lack of Free Testing, Treatment

March 4, 2010

By Simeon Bennett March 5 (Bloomberg) — The lack of free testing and treatment for HIV in Singapore is hindering progress on controlling the spread of the virus in the city-state, said Francoise Barre-Sinoussi , winner of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Medicine for her co-discovery of the virus that causes AIDS. “The stigma, the fact that they have to pay for everything, it’s the worst conditions for stimulating people to be tested and treated,” Barre-Sinoussi, 62, said in an interview at the French embassy in Singapore today. “The numbers they announce are probably much lower than the numbers they have.” New HIV infections in the nation of 4.6 million people rose to 456 in 2008 from 242 in 2003, according to the health ministry. In France, which has 64 million people, new cases fell to 6,940 from 8,930 over the same period, data presented at an AIDS conference last month show. Singapore’s government has opened more anonymous testing clinics, boosted HIV education programs and produced a soap opera to curb new infections of HIV, which have doubled in the past 10 years, even as the spread of the virus slows in neighboring Malaysia and Thailand. Treatment can cost as much as S$1,500 ($1,073) a month in Singapore, said Stuart Koe, chief executive officer of Fridae.com , Asia’s largest gay Web site. The government said in January it would subsidize HIV treatment for patients who can’t afford it. An anonymous HIV test costs S$30, according to the Web site of Action for AIDS, which runs Singapore’s biggest anonymous testing clinic. ‘Difficult to Accept’ “Coming from a country where everything is free, it’s difficult to accept,” Barre-Sinoussi said. “The situation is even worse than in developing countries not far from here. In Cambodia, everything is free.” HIV-AIDS is the world’s deadliest infectious disease . About 33 million people were living with HIV, 2.7 million were newly infected with the virus and 2 million people died with AIDS in 2008, according to the latest World Health Organization estimates. Barre-Sinoussi is director of the Regulation of Retroviral Infections Unit at the Institut Pasteur in Paris. In 1983 she co-wrote a report with Luc Montagnier in the journal Science that detailed the discovery of the pathogen that later became known as human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV. To contact the reporter on this story: Simeon Bennett in Singapore at sbennett9@bloomberg.net

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Pimco Buys Brazil Debt in Redux of $1 Billion Lula Bet That Trounced Peers

February 17, 2010

By Alexander Ragir Feb. 17 (Bloomberg) — Pacific Investment Management Co., manager of the world’s biggest bond fund, posted its best year in emerging markets by loading up on Brazilian debt ahead of the 2002 presidential elections. Eight years later, the company is using a similar tack. Pimco is a “consistent” buyer of Brazilian bonds in part as a bet the winner of October’s vote will match the success of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in orchestrating economic growth while containing the budget deficit, said Michael Gomez , the firm’s co-head of emerging markets. In 2002, Pimco added to its Brazil holdings as the country’s benchmark bonds sank to as low as 42 cents on the dollar amid concern Lula would default after taking office. Those bonds trade at $1.33 today. “We have every comfort that the policy in Brazil will remain sound,” Gomez said in a Bloomberg Television interview on Feb. 11 from Munich. “It doesn’t really matter who the president is in the next election as long as the policy is taken care of. We are fans of local debt markets in Brazil.” Pimco is boosting its holdings as Bank of America Corp., the largest U.S. bank, says asset valuations in the country suggest investors are underestimating the risk that the new government may crimp central bank independence. Itau Unibanco Holding SA , Brazil’s biggest non-state bank, said in a Jan. 26 report that there’s “growing political risk” and advised clients to hedge their equity investments in the derivatives market. Rousseff, Serra Dilma Rousseff , supported by Lula to be his successor, is trailing Sao Paulo Governor Jose Serra by 7 percentage points, according to a poll conducted last month by Sensus for Brasilia- based National Confederation of Transport. The poll, which surveyed 2,000 people from Jan. 25 to Jan. 29, has a margin of error of 3 percentage points. Serra, a former health minister who lost to Lula in 2002, held a 19-point lead in a November poll by Sensus. Serra, who once pushed pharmaceutical companies to cut prices by threatening to break their AIDS drug patent, and Rousseff, a one-time Marxist guerilla fighter, “are clearly risks,” said Nicholas Field , who helps manage about $11 billion in emerging-market assets for Schroders Plc in London. He has a “neutral” position on Brazilian equities. “Either way, as a global investor, making firm predictions about one country’s politics is generally a bad idea on the grounds that it’s not very predictable,” Field said. Brazilian markets have been among the world’s best performers after the country led Latin America out of the global recession last year. The central bank forecasts the region’s biggest economy will grow 5.8 percent in 2010 after expanding 0.2 percent in 2009. ‘Great Value’ The Bovespa stock index has jumped 96 percent in the past 12 months in dollar terms, the 16th-biggest advance among the 93 primary indexes tracked by Bloomberg. The real advanced 23 percent against the dollar, the sixth-most among 26 emerging- market currencies. And the government’s local bonds returned 9.2 percent, almost double the 5.3 percent gain overall on local emerging-market debt, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. indexes. Gomez said yields of about 12.5 percent make local Brazilian bonds a “great value.” The country’s international bonds are more of a “stable” investment after their yields plunged as global financial markets recovered last year, he said. The country’s dollar bonds on average yield 2.16 percentage points more than U.S. Treasuries, down from 4.51 points a year ago, according to JPMorgan. Brazilian debt is one of the “core holdings” in Pimco’s emerging-market asset portfolio, Gomez said. He declined to provide more specifics. Outperformance In 2002, Pimco kept buying Brazilian debt — taking holdings to about $1 billion as of mid-2002 — as others dumped the securities amid concern Lula, a former union leader, would swell spending and sink the country into default. Lula instead cut government expenses upon taking office in January 2003, helping trim the deficit to the equivalent of 2.8 percent of gross domestic product by 2004 from 4.4 percent in 2002. Lula has held the deficit under 4 percent of GDP every year since then, helping the country earn investment-grade credit ratings from Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s Investors Service. A Lula spokesman who asked not to be named in accordance with government policy declined to comment for this story. Brazil dollar bonds returned 70 percent in 2003, more than double the 26 percent gain for emerging-market debt overall, according to JPMorgan’s EMBI Global Index. That rally pushed Pimco’s Emerging Markets Bond Fund up 33 percent, the best year since its inception in 1997. The fund gained 31 percent last year, topping the 28 percent return on the EMBI Global. ‘Frightened’ Mobius “We’ve had a very sanguine view of Brazil over the last decade,” said Gomez, 37, who joined Pimco in 2003. “It’s clear that that’s worked out pretty well.” Mohamed El-Erian , who is now co-chief investment officer at the Newport Beach-based company, managed the emerging-market funds during the 2002 elections. El-Erian’s strategy that year put him at odds with investors including billionaire George Soros and Templeton Asset Management Ltd.’s Mark Mobius . Soros, chairman of Soros Fund Management LLC, said in October 2002 that he saw more than a 50 percent chance Brazil would “have to reorganize its debt.” Mobius put the odds of default at 90 percent that September. “We were all very frightened,” said Mobius, who manages $34 billion in emerging-market assets. Mobius is in agreement with Pimco this time. He said he’s betting on a victory by Rousseff and would see any “correction” in share prices as a buying opportunity. “It’s going to be more of the same” in economic policy, Mobius said in a Feb. 11 phone interview from Buenos Aires after a week-long trip to Brazil. “Frankly, I don’t think we have anything to be concerned about.” To contact the reporter on this story: Alexander Ragir in Rio de Janeiro at aragir@bloomberg.net ;

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Tuberculosis Cut in HIV Patients With Vaccine Drawn From Dirt-Dwelling Bug

January 29, 2010

By Simeon Bennett Jan. 29 (Bloomberg) — An experimental vaccine based on a germ found in soil cut tuberculosis infections among people with HIV, the first time a shot has been shown to reduce cases of the most common AIDS-related cause of death in poor nations. The shots reduced TB infections by 39 percent in patients who received them compared with those who got a placebo, according to a study published online by the journal AIDS today. The trial was stopped early, partly because of the clear effect of the vaccine, the study said. Tuberculosis and HIV are a lethal combination , each speeding the other’s progress, according to the World Health Organization. The only existing TB vaccine — the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin, or BCG , shot, which has been used to protect newborns since 1921 — has “minimal or no protective effect” on adults, researchers led by Charles von Reyn at Dartmouth Medical School said in the study. “Development of a new vaccine against tuberculosis is a major international health priority, especially for patients with HIV infection,” von Reyn and colleagues said in a statement . Tuberculosis has plagued man since prehistoric times. It infects about 8.8 million people and kills 1.7 million each year, according to the WHO. Medicines used to battle the bacterium are increasingly failing because the airborne bug has mutated, spawning strains that aren’t defeated by even the most powerful antibacterial drugs. Immune Response The vaccine is based on a disarmed form of Mycobacterium vaccae. The germ has been shown in previous studies to boost the immune response to TB in patients who were vaccinated as children with the BCG shot. Von Reyn and colleagues recruited 2,013 HIV patients in Tanzania who received BCG when young. They received five doses of the vaccine over a year, then were monitored every 3 months for a median of 3.3 years. Among those who got the vaccine, 33 were infected with TB, compared with 52 given a placebo. A further trial of a three-dose course should be considered, the authors said. Marketing rights to the vaccine are owned by closely held Immodulon Therapeutics Ltd. The London-based company will work with the Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation , based in Rockville, Maryland, to improve manufacturing methods for the vaccine to produce larger quantities of the shots for further research and use, according to the statement. The study was sponsored by the U.S. National Institutes of Health. To contact the reporter on this story: Simeon Bennett in Singapore at sbennett9@bloomberg.net

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Drug-Resistant HIV Wave Threatens Decades of AIDS Progress, Study Says

January 15, 2010

By Simeon Bennett Jan. 14 (Bloomberg) — A wave of drug-resistant HIV emerging in the U.S. threatens to undermine progress made in treating patients in poor countries, a study published online by the journal Science found. About 60 percent of drug-resistant HIV strains circulating in San Francisco can spur self-sustaining epidemics as patients who haven’t been treated spread them, researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles said in the study. About 75 percent of those strains are impervious to a class of drugs that includes those made by Pfizer Inc. , Johnson & Johnson and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., they said. The mutant strains may reverse progress made in expanding treatment programs in poorer nations such as South Africa, where there is little access to back-up medicines when resistance occurs, researchers led by Sally Blower at the university’s Center for Biomedical Modeling said. Patients in developed countries are less likely to suffer because they have better access to alternative treatments, they said. “If the resistant strains we have identified in our analyses evolve in these countries, they could significantly compromise HIV treatment programs,” Blower and colleagues wrote. Mutant forms circulating in San Francisco and other rich cities “pose a great and immediate threat to global public health,” they said. The study casts doubt on research by World Health Organization experts published last year that predicted testing everyone for HIV in hard-hit African countries and treating all infections immediately may eliminate most of the virus’s spread. That model is flawed because it doesn’t take drug resistance into account, Blower said in a telephone interview. ‘Very Strong’ “Our modeling is saying the drug resistant strains that you will generate from this kind of strategy are ones that will be very strong, transmissible, and therefore you will get an awful lot of problems,” she said. About 33.4 million people were infected with the AIDS- causing virus worldwide as of the end of 2008, according to the WHO, making it the world’s most prevalent infectious disease. About 13 percent of people newly infected with HIV in San Francisco get drug-resistant strains, Blower and colleagues said in the study today. The extent of HIV drug resistance in developing nations hasn’t been measured because of a lack of reliable data , the WHO said on its Web site. Blower and colleagues developed a computer model to trace and predict resistance to three classes of HIV drugs known as PIs, NRTIs, and NNRTIs in San Francisco. The greatest resistance was to NNRTIs, a category that includes Bristol- Myers’ Sustiva, Johnson & Johnson’s Intelence and Pfizer’s Rescriptor. Similar trends have been observed in other cities in the U.S. and Europe, the authors wrote. The model predicted that resistance to NRTIs, such as Gilead Sciences Inc.’s Truvada, and PIs including Abbott Laboratories’ Kaletra will remain at current levels until 2013, while resistance to NNRTIs will increase. To contact the reporter on this story: Simeon Bennett in Singapore at sbennett9@bloomberg.net

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Mutant HIV Wave Threatens Decades of Drug Progress, Study Finds

January 14, 2010

By Simeon Bennett Jan. 14 (Bloomberg) — A wave of drug-resistant HIV emerging in the U.S. threatens to undermine progress made in treating patients in poor countries, a study published online by the journal Science found. About 60 percent of drug-resistant HIV strains circulating in San Francisco can spur self-sustaining epidemics as patients who haven’t been treated spread them, researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles said in the study. About 75 percent of those strains are impervious to a class of drugs that includes those made by Pfizer Inc. , Johnson & Johnson and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., they said. The mutant strains may reverse progress made in expanding treatment programs in poorer nations such as South Africa, where there is little access to back-up medicines when resistance occurs, researchers led by Sally Blower at the university’s Center for Biomedical Modeling said. Patients in developed countries are less likely to suffer because they have better access to alternative treatments, they said. “If the resistant strains we have identified in our analyses evolve in these countries, they could significantly compromise HIV treatment programs,” Blower and colleagues wrote. Mutant forms circulating in San Francisco and other rich cities “pose a great and immediate threat to global public health,” they said. The study casts doubt on research by World Health Organization experts published last year that predicted testing everyone for HIV in hard-hit African countries and treating all infections immediately may eliminate most of the virus’s spread. That model is flawed because it doesn’t take drug resistance into account, Blower said in a telephone interview. ‘Very Strong’ “Our modeling is saying the drug resistant strains that you will generate from this kind of strategy are ones that will be very strong, transmissible, and therefore you will get an awful lot of problems,” she said. About 33.4 million people were infected with the AIDS- causing virus worldwide as of the end of 2008, according to the WHO, making it the world’s most prevalent infectious disease. About 13 percent of people newly infected with HIV in San Francisco get drug-resistant strains, Blower and colleagues said in the study today. The extent of HIV drug resistance in developing nations hasn’t been measured because of a lack of reliable data , the WHO said on its Web site. Blower and colleagues developed a computer model to trace and predict resistance to three classes of HIV drugs known as PIs, NRTIs, and NNRTIs in San Francisco. The greatest resistance was to NNRTIs, a category that includes Bristol- Myers’ Sustiva, Johnson & Johnson’s Intelence and Pfizer’s Rescriptor. Similar trends have been observed in other cities in the U.S. and Europe, the authors wrote. The model predicted that resistance to NRTIs, such as Gilead Sciences Inc.’s Truvada, and PIs including Abbott Laboratories’ Kaletra will remain at current levels until 2013, while resistance to NNRTIs will increase. To contact the reporter on this story: Simeon Bennett in Singapore at sbennett9@bloomberg.net

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NIH Director Says Stimulus Money Adds Jobs and Research After Funding Lag

December 31, 2009

By Meg Tirrell Dec. 31 (Bloomberg) — The U.S. National Institutes of Health has created or saved 50,000 jobs with its $10 billion in federal stimulus funds, boosting medical research and returning $2.25 on the dollar in goods and services, the agency’s director Francis Collins said. Collins , appointed by President Barack Obama in August, said the Bethesda, Maryland-based organization aims to accelerate drug development, promote research on rare, neglected diseases and cut health-care costs. He spoke in a Dec. 30 interview and outlined areas for investment and research in an article released today by the journal Science . The NIH is aiming to prove that science is an important investment in the economy’s recovery as budgeting decisions are being made for the 2011 fiscal year, Collins said. The 50,000 jobs the agency created in the first year with stimulus money “are high-paying, quality jobs that are employing people with considerable skills that we’d hate to see migrating overseas.” “After five years of flat funding between 2003 and 2008, where NIH effectively lost about 15 percent of its buying power, the community has been exhilarated,” Collins said. “We’re going to see acceleration in both the basic and the clinical aspects of biomedical research.” Comparative Effectiveness The agency is investing $400 million of stimulus money in studies comparing the efficacy of treatments for ailments including dementia, gastro-esophageal reflux disease, or GERD, and the staph infection MRSA, according to the agency’s Web site . MRSA, or methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureas, has become increasingly resistant to standard treatments and affects about 2 million Americans. Germs such as MRSA cost about $20 billion annually to treat, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Comparative effectiveness studies can help lower health- care costs and benefit patients by identifying the best treatments with the fewest side effects. Previous such studies have shown that exercise and life- style changes prevent the onset of diabetes better than medication, and that older, less expensive antipsychotics work as well as newer drugs, with fewer side effects, Collins wrote in his article. Economic Incentives The agency also plans to start a grant program encouraging development of new models for health economics, Collins said. Incentives for doctors should be based on patient outcomes rather than the number of tests or procedures performed, he said. “Our health-care system is currently loaded with incentives that may be counter to cost savings,” Collins said. “We would like to perhaps study that more carefully in a research environment.” In a frenzy to access the stimulus funds, researchers submitted thousands of grant applications, with some institutions such as the University of California in Irvine preparing more than 200, according to an April article in Science. Not all applicants concluded the program would help boost the economy. “I am one of the 21,000 applicants for the NIH Challenge Grant, which will fund roughly 200 grants at a success rate of 1 percent,” Sailen Barik, of the University of South Alabama College of Medicine in Mobile, wrote in a July 7 letter to Science. “This unprecedented low rate makes me wonder whether this feeding frenzy is actually stimulating American recovery.” Barik wasn’t immediately available for comment today. Neglected Diseases The U.S. has a responsibility to use its resources to help solve some health problems in developing areas of the world, going beyond the “big three” of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, Collins said. Some diseases are rare or affect patients in areas with few resources, making them unappealing to drug companies that need cover the cost of research through revenue, Collins said. The NIH plans to forge more partnerships with drugmakers in which academic investigators perform initial studies. That may help remove some of the risk of drug development so companies can enter in the later stages and take a more mature treatment through human trials. Model Drug Development Collins cited as a candidate for this model a treatment for a disease called schistosomiasis, found primarily in sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, that’s carried by water snails and affects about 250 million people. Parasites on the snails can transfer to humans and cause damage to the liver, intestines, lungs and bladder, according to the CDC. “There hasn’t been a new drug for this in 50 years,” Collins said. “Through academic efforts, as a consequence of NIH investing in the front-end of the drug development pipeline, a very promising compound has emerged that cures this disease in the mouse model, and can now be moved toward the clinical trial potential.” Before taking his current role, Collins was director of the National Human Genome Research Institute , an arm of the NIH that sought to understand the genetic makeup of humans. It completed a map of the human genome sequence in April 2003. A physician with a Yale University doctorate in chemistry, Collins helped isolate the gene linked to cystic fibrosis in 1989. In 1993, he helped pinpoint the gene for Huntington’s disease, a brain disorder. That same year, he joined the government’s genome research institute, taking over the Human Genome Project, which had begun in 1990. Affordable Human Genome One goal supported by the NIH’s stimulus funds is the reduction in cost of sequencing an individual human genome to $1,000 from about $20,000 currently, Collins said. “If you just do it really well one time for $1,000, you’re probably going to save money in the long run from a lot of targeted testing,” he said. Researchers may be on track to reach the $1,000 mark within three to five years, he said. “It’s not going to end at that,” Collins said. “Take this out 10 years and the cost of the complete genome sequence will be under $100.” While stimulus money has boosted biomedical research this year, Collins said he worries that progress will be interrupted in 2011 when the two years to spend the funds are up. “Science is not a hundred-yard dash; it’s a marathon, and very few projects get done in two years,” he said. “We will have revved up this remarkable engine of discovery and then we will run the risk that the tank falls empty in 2011, and a great deal of disruption may occur as a result.” To contact the reporter on this story: Meg Tirrell in New York at mtirrell@bloomberg.net .

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Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church Asks For Urgent $900,000

December 31, 2009

LAKE FOREST, Calif. — Evangelical pastor Rick Warren appealed to parishioners at his Orange County megachurch Wednesday to help fill a $900,000 deficit by the first of the year. Warren made the appeal in a letter posted on the Saddleback Church Web site. It begins “Dear Saddleback Family, THIS IS AN URGENT LETTER.” “With 10 percent of our church family out of work due to the recession, our expenses in caring for our community in 2009 rose dramatically while our income stagnated,” the letter reads. Still, Warren said the church managed to stay within its budget, but “the bottom dropped out” when Christmas donations dropped. “On the last weekend of 2009, our total offerings were less than half of what we normally receive – leaving us $900,000 in the red for the year,” the letter reads. “It’s basically having to do more with less,” church spokesman A. Larry Ross said. “The seasonal Christmas offering was down significantly and, commensurately, the need for services the church is expected to provide is up,” Ross said. Warren’s appeal presents an opportunity for those who haven’t been hit by the recession to step up and help, Ross said. The letter details some of the church’s accomplishments in 2009 and where the donations would be used, including the church’s food pantry, homeless ministry, counseling and support groups. It then lists three ways parishioners can make their donations. Warren was named the top newsmaker of the year by the Religion Newswriters Association. He gained attention with his invocation at the inauguration of President Barack Obama and comments in the aftermath of California’s Proposition 8, which overturned gay marriage. Warren also gained attention for his work in Africa involving AIDS relief and other humanitarian activities. Warren is the author of numerous books, including the best-selling “The Purpose Driven Life.” He founded Saddleback Church in 1980 in Lake Forest, about 65 miles southeast of Los Angeles.

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Gene Therapy Advance Saves Two Boys From Rare Fatal Brain Disease

November 5, 2009

By Rob Waters Nov. 5 (Bloomberg) — Two seven-year-old boys with a fatal brain disease who couldn’t get bone marrow transplants were saved by scientists whose gene therapy technique may let doctors treat other incurable disorders. Doctors in Paris delivered the gene into the boys’ bodies using HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The virus, stripped of genetic material that makes it toxic, integrates permanently into the DNA of cells it enters, scientists said. That means the modified gene remains in the blood-forming stem cells for the life of the patient, according to a report in the journal Science. Two years after the experimental treatment, the neural damage has been halted or reversed and the two boys attend school and lead normal lives, said Nathalie Cartier, the study’s lead author. The treatment was cited as an example of a “comeback for gene therapy,” after years of setbacks, in an editorial in the journal. “Their disease is completely stabilized, they are fine and there’s no reason this should change,” Cartier, research director at the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research in Paris, said in a telephone interview yesterday. If more studies confirm the results, she said, “We think gene therapy could become a first-line treatment. It’s definitely a strategy that could be applied to other conditions.” Today’s report “represents a long-sought rewarding achievement in the field of gene therapy,” wrote Luigi Naldini, a researcher in Milan, Italy, in the editorial accompanying the study. Other Uses Possible The two unrelated 7-year-olds suffer from a condition called adrenoleukodystrophy , or ALD, and couldn’t be treated with a bone marrow transplant , the standard therapy, because no matching donors could be found. Instead, doctors in Paris tried a different technique, removing the boys’ own blood-forming stem cells and inserting into them a gene that makes a vital protein missing in people with ALD, according to today’s journal report. The gene therapy method may soon be tried in two more common blood diseases, thalassemia and sickle cell anemia, as well as two neurological conditions, Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome and metachromatic leukodystrophy , Cartier said. About one in 18,000 boys is born with ALD, according to the Stop ALD Foundation, based in Houston. The genetic disorder is triggered by lack of a protein called ABCD1, which helps break down chains of fatty acids that form in the brain. The deficiency damages the myelin sheath that surrounds and protects nerve cells, leading to impairments in movement and thinking. ALD is the condition described in “ Lorenzo’s Oil ,” the 1992 movie starring Nick Nolte and Susan Sarandon and based on a family’s real-life search for a cure for their son. Death at Adolescence The disease typically appears when boys are 4 to 10 years old and leads them to become withdrawn and forgetful, to perform poorly in school and to develop a range of symptoms, including impaired vision and hearing, poor coordination and dementia, according to the U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke , based in Bethesda, Maryland. Without treatment, most boys with ALD die by the time they reach adolescence. The disease is passed to boys on the X chromosome they inherit from their mothers. Girls generally don’t get the condition, because they also inherit a second X chromosome with a normal gene. Less commonly, a milder form of the disease can affect adults. If the condition is diagnosed early enough, before the myelin has been greatly damaged, doctors can halt further injury by giving patients bone marrow transplants. The existing marrow is knocked out and replaced by new marrow that contains stem cells, and those develop into myelin -making cells. Early Treatment Important Transplants have provided a way to reverse the course of the disease, Cartier said. They can help if they are performed early and involve donors whose tissue type matches the patients’, she said. The two boys treated in Paris were seen early in the course of the disease by Patrick Aubourg, a pediatric neurologist at the Hospital Saint-Vincent de Paul in Paris. Both boys had relatives with ALD and were being monitored for signs of the illness, Cartier said. “Usually when the families come to see Patrick with neurological symptoms, the lesions are too severe and no treatment is available,” Cartier said. In another way, the boys weren’t so lucky: No donors could be found whose bone marrow closely matched theirs. Instead, they became the first patients to be treated with the new gene therapy technique that Aubourg, Cartier and their colleagues had been developing. Delivering the Gene They collected blood from the boys’ bone marrow, inserted a functional copy of the ABCD1 gene into it, and injected the altered blood back into the boys’ bodies. What made their treatment unusual was that the gene was delivered inside a modified copy of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The virus had been stripped of any genetic material that could make it toxic. HIV belongs to a family called lentivirus and differs from viruses used in other gene therapy trials, Cartier said. Its advantage is that it integrates permanently into the DNA of cells it enters. That means the modified gene remains inside the blood-forming stem cells for the life of the patient, helping make myelin, Cartier said. The research was funded by the French and German governments and by charities, including the Stop ALD Foundation . The group’s president, Amber Salzman, said she lost a nephew to ALD five years ago and has a son and nephew who were treated with bone marrow transplants. She said she hopes to extend the trial run by the French doctors to the U.S. ‘Incredibly Exciting’ “This is incredibly exciting news,” Salzman said in a telephone interview yesterday. “This approach could be applied to other diseases that don’t have a good therapy.” The form of virus used in the experiment was made by Cell Genesys Inc., now a unit of BioSante Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Lincolnshire, Illinois. BioSante is negotiating with scientific groups that may license the technology, Chief Executive Officer Stephen Simes said in a telephone interview. In the journal editorial, Naldini wrote that using this virus to deliver the gene therapy may lessen the risk of causing leukemia seen in other experimental gene therapy failures. To contact the reporter on this story: Rob Waters in San Francisco at rwaters5@bloomberg.net .

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Billionaire Hirst Collector Victor Pinchuk Plans New Arts Center for Kiev

November 3, 2009

By John Varoli Nov. 3 (Bloomberg) — Victor Pinchuk , one of Ukraine’s richest men, will build a contemporary-art center in downtown Kiev, with the hope of making the country’s capital a major destination on the global art map. Pinchuk, 48, said in a Bloomberg interview that the new building will be bigger than his existing PinchukArtCentre , the first private center of contemporary art in the former Soviet Union. The new project will also supplement the regular shows already being held at the center that Pinchuk said has had more than 830,000 visitors since it opened in 2006. The steel billionaire is one of the world’s leading contemporary-art collectors, owning works by the most expensive living artists such as Jeff Koons , Damien Hirst and German photographer Andreas Gursky . “This new arts center will make Kiev and Ukraine a fantastic place for contemporary art,” Pinchuk said at a show of 20 Ukrainian artists nominated for the first Pinchuk Art Center Prize . A winner will be chosen by an international jury, and announced on Dec. 4 by Hirst. First prize is 100,000 hryvnia ($12,200), and a one-month internship with an international artist. Pinchuk hopes the new building will be near a Soviet-era sculpture in the form of an arc meant to celebrate Russian- Ukrainian relations. He envisages a multi-functional center with a permanent collection built on, though not limited to, works that he owns. Pinchuk said he’s ready to provide “100 percent” financing for the center. With a fortune estimated by Forbes to be $2.6 billion, Pinchuk said he’s speaking to the “most important architects in the world” and wants to hold a design competition. While he wouldn’t comment further, he said, “you know their names.” ‘Great Influence’ “If Pinchuk completes this project, then there’s no doubt it’ll have a great influence on the development of art in Ukraine,” said Mykola Zhuravel , a Kiev artist represented in the U.S. by Zorya Fine Art of Greenwich, Connecticut. “I hope it won’t only display artworks by glamorous international artists.” In April, Pinchuk opened an exhibition of more than 100 works by Hirst, the artist’s largest show. Pinchuk said he bought at Hirst’s solo auction in London in September 2008, when 218 of 223 lots sold for 111.5 million pounds ($199 million at the time); he didn’t say what he bought. Pinchuk owns “probably half” of the skull paintings in Hirst’s current show at London’s Wallace Collection , the artist said in a Bloomberg interview last month. In 2007, Pinchuk founded EastOne LLC , an investment company based in London. He built his wealth over the past decade on Interpipe, Ukraine’s biggest producer of steel pipes for oil and gas companies, whose clients include OAO Gazprom , the world’s largest natural gas producer. Pinchuk is one of East Europe’s leading philanthropists. He sponsors campaigns to combat AIDS, and supports Jewish causes such as “Spell Your Name,” a film coproduced with Steven Spielberg about the Holocaust in Ukraine. ( John Varoli writes for Bloomberg News. Opinions expressed are his own.) To contact the writer on the story: John Varoli in Kiev at jvaroli@gmail.com .

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New York’s Tavern on the Green Plays Emerald City for Wizard of Oz Gala

September 24, 2009

By Patrick Cole Sept. 24 (Bloomberg) — As the granddaughter of “ The Wizard of Oz” producer Mervyn LeRoy, Jennifer Oz LeRoy got a strange middle name and the inside scoop on the film’s lore and visual effects. “My favorite scene was the tornado because my father said it was made out of a sock,” LeRoy said in a phone interview. “When I look at the tornado in the movie now, I say to myself, ‘That’s a sock!’” Of the family’s two interests, she chose not film but food, becoming owner of Tavern on the Green , the New York restaurant where her father, Warner LeRoy , had famously served as proprietor. In the family since 1974, the Tavern filed for bankruptcy this month. Tonight Jennifer LeRoy will combine her family’s interests by turning the Manhattan landmark into an Oz-themed party venue to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the classic film. About 500 feet of winding yellow brick road lined with fields of poppy flowers with Swarovski crystal elements will be installed outside the Tavern to welcome some 1,000 guests. “Running a restaurant is like a film,” LeRoy said. “It’s very theatrical.” “The Wizard of Oz,” released in 1939, starred Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale, the girl from Kansas who traveled to the Emerald City in a dream. It was chosen as the most-watched film in history by the Library of Congress. Warner Bros. Entertainment organized the Emerald Gala tonight and will give guests a sneak peak of “The Wizard of Oz 70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition,” which Warner Home Video will release Sept. 29. Original Munchkins Lorna Luft , a daughter of Judy Garland, and rhythm-and- blues singer Ashanti are scheduled to sing, and five of the original munchkins will attend. The invitation-only event will also host one of the last stops of “The Ruby Slipper Collection,” featuring shoes inspired by Dorothy’s red slippers in the movie. The shoes, original sketches for them and some pieces from Warner Bros.’ “The Inspirations of Oz Fine Art Collection” will be auctioned at the gala. Bids for the shoes can be made online through tonight at rubyslipperauction.com . The proceeds will go to the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation . The charity was set up to honor Elizabeth Glaser, who contracted AIDS through a blood transfusion in 1981. The wife of actor Paul Glaser , she unknowingly passed it to her daughter Ariel through breastfeeding and to her son, Jake, in utero. To sweep the guests into the aura of Oz, other props outside the Tavern will include: a purple horse; a Wizard of Oz hot-air balloon almost eight stories high; and audio speakers pumping out renditions of “Over the Rainbow.” Once inside, guests will roam the Tavern’s hallways and rooms while dining on roasted turkey, filet of beef, rack of lamb, Viennese desserts and crepes to order. “Someone once said if Oz had a restaurant, Tavern on the Green would be it,” LeRoy said. To contact the writer on this story: Patrick Cole in New York at pcole3@.bloomberg.net .

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AIDS Vaccine First to Block HIV Infection in Sanofi, VaxGen Thailand Study

September 24, 2009

By Simeon Bennett Sept. 24 (Bloomberg) — A vaccine prevented some AIDS infections for the first time, a breakthrough in a search that has eluded scientists for a quarter century. A U.S.-funded study involving more than 16,000 volunteers in Thailand found that a combination of ALVAC, made by Paris- based Sanofi-Aventis SA , and AIDSVAX, a product of VaxGen Inc., of South San Francisco, cut infections by 31.2 percent in the group who received it compared with those on a placebo, scientists said today in Bangkok. Neither vaccine had stopped the virus when tested independently in previous studies. The finding represents a revival in a campaign that appeared to stall just two years ago when use of Merck & Co. ’s experimental Ad5 vaccine boosted some people’s chances of infection in a study. The latest result will transform future research, said Mitchell Warren, director of the New York-based AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition. “Wow,” said Warren, who was not involved in the study, in a telephone interview today. “We are in a new place in the search for an AIDS vaccine. It’s safe to say that the scientific community is caught off-guard.” The findings don’t mean the vaccine can be delivered worldwide, because of the complexity of the process and the fact that it’s based on old technology, Warren said. Instead they will serve to spur scientists to look for better combinations in more user-friendly regimens, and higher success rates, he said. Different Strategies The Thailand study looked at whether different infection- fighting strategies devised by Sanofi and VaxGen could be combined into a two-pronged attack. It was conducted by Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health over six years, and led by researcher Supachai Reks-Gnarm. Sanofi’s ALVAC uses a canarypox virus that’s been disabled so it doesn’t cause sickness in humans to smuggle three HIV genes into the body. It’s designed to coax the immune system to make so-called T-cells, immune system protectors that hunt and kill infection deep inside the body. The AIDSVAX shot contains an HIV protein called gp120 that’s used by the virus to enter human cells. It is designed to encourage the body to produce neutralizing antibodies to destroy HIV viruses before they can infect healthy cells. “That’s what makes it so exciting,” Warren said. “We now have proof of concept that a combination vaccine regimen stimulating both arms of the immune system can have an effect.” The search for a vaccine to prevent HIV has eluded scientists since the early 1980s. AIDS, the syndrome linked with HIV, infects about 6,800 new people globally every day. While there are treatments for HIV that limit the virus in the body, holding AIDS at bay for years, there is no cure. Merck Vaccine “This is the first concrete evidence, since the discovery of the virus in 1983, that a vaccine against HIV is eventually feasible,” Michel DeWilde , senior vice president of research at Sanofi Pasteur, the French drugmaker’s vaccine arm, said in a statement today. An international test of the Ad5 vaccine made by Whitehouse Station, New Jersey-based Merck in about 3,000 people was halted in September 2007, when 49 HIV infections occurred among those who received it compared with 33 among those who got placebo shots. That suggested the product may have raised HIV risk among people exposed to blood or semen containing the virus. In 2004, a group of U.S. AIDS researchers said in a letter to the journal Science that the combination trial would probably disappoint, and shouldn’t be allowed to proceed because of the failure of the two previous studies. Highest HIV Rates In a telephone interview from Oxford, England, before the results were reported, Marie-Paule Kieny , director of the World Health Organization’s Initiative for Vaccine Research in Geneva, said, “I don’t think there is a lot of expectation that the efficacy of this vaccine will be very high. Any hint towards identifying something which is protective in humans would be very good news,” she said. The researchers enrolled volunteers in Thailand’s Chon Buri and Rayong provinces, which have the nation’s highest rates of HIV, according to the study Web site. Subjects were given four doses of the ALVAC vaccine and two of the AIDSVAX shot over six months, then monitored for three years. They were also given advice on safe sex. There were no serious side effects, the researchers said. Of those who received the vaccine, 51 became infected with HIV, compared with 74 who received a placebo, the researchers said. Those in the study who became infected with HIV during the trial were given free access to treatment. ‘Change Some Ideas’ “Although the results were modest, with an efficacy of 31.2 percent, this is a very important scientific advance, and gives us hope that a globally effective HIV vaccine may be possible in the future,” said Jerome Kim, a deputy director of science at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, which sponsored the trial. “It has already caused us to change some of our ideas,” Kim told reporters. VaxGen, a venture spun off in 1995 from South San Francisco, California-based biotech company Genentech Inc., stopped developing AIDSVAX in 2003 after a trial showed it didn’t prevent people from getting HIV. The Global Solutions for Infectious Diseases , a South San Francisco-based non-profit organization, acquired the rights to the product. The Thailand trial was funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Army Medial Research and Materiel Command. To contact the reporter on this story: Simeon Bennett in Singapore at sbennett9@bloomberg.net .

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AIDS Vaccine Shows Promise for First Time in Sanofi, VaxGen Thailand Study

September 24, 2009

By Simeon Bennett Sept. 24 (Bloomberg) — An HIV vaccine has for the first time been proven effective against the virus responsible for AIDS, according to a U.S.-funded study involving more than 16,000 volunteers in Thailand. A combination effort that includes ALVAC, made by Paris- based Sanofi-Aventis SA , and AIDSVAX, a product of VaxGen Inc., of South San Francisco, prevented infections in 31.2 percent of people in the trial compared with those on a placebo, scientists said today in Bangkok. Neither vaccine had stopped the virus when tested independently in previous studies. The finding represents a revival in a quarter-century long campaign that appeared to stall just two years ago when use of Merck & Co. ’s experimental Ad5 vaccine boosted some people’s chances of infection in a study that was terminated. The newest result will transform future research, said Mitchell Warren, director of the New York-based AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition. “Wow,” said Warren, who was not involved in the study, in a telephone interview today. “We are in a new place in the search for an AIDS vaccine. It’s safe to say that the scientific community is caught off-guard.” The findings don’t mean the vaccine can be delivered worldwide, because of the complexity of the process and the fact that it’s based on old technology, Warren said. Instead they will serve to spur scientists to look for better combinations in more user-friendly regimens, and higher success rates, he said. Different Strategies The Thailand study looked at whether different infection- fighting strategies devised by Sanofi and VaxGen could be combined into a two-pronged attack. It was conducted by Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health over six years, and led by researcher Supachai Reks-Gnarm. Sanofi’s ALVAC uses a canarypox virus that’s been disabled so it doesn’t cause sickness in humans to smuggle three HIV genes into the body. It’s designed to coax the immune system to make so-called T-cells, immune system protectors that hunt and kill infection deep inside the body. The AIDSVAX shot contains an HIV protein called gp120 that’s used by the virus to enter human cells. It is designed to encourage the body to produce neutralizing antibodies to destroy HIV viruses before they can infect healthy cells. “That’s what makes it so exciting,” Warren said. “We now have proof of concept that a combination vaccine regimen stimulating both arms of the immune system can have an effect.” The search for a vaccine to prevent HIV has eluded scientists since the early 1980s. AIDS, the syndrome linked with HIV, infects about 6,800 new people globally every day. While there are treatments for HIV that limit the virus in the body, holding AIDS at bay for years, there is no cure. Merck Vaccine An international test of the Ad5 vaccine made by Whitehouse Station, New Jersey-based Merck in about 3,000 people was halted in September 2007, when 49 HIV infections occurred among those who received it compared with 33 among those who got placebo shots. That suggested the product may have raised HIV risk among people exposed to blood or semen containing the virus. In 2004, a group of U.S. AIDS researchers said in a letter to the journal Science that the combination trial would probably disappoint, and shouldn’t be allowed to proceed because of the failure of the two previous studies. In a telephone interview from Oxford, England, before the results were reported, Marie-Paule Kieny , director of the World Health Organization’s Initiative for Vaccine Research in Geneva, said, “I don’t think there is a lot of expectation that the efficacy of this vaccine will be very high. Any hint towards identifying something which is protective in humans would be very good news,” she said. Highest HIV Rates The researchers enrolled volunteers in Thailand’s Chon Buri and Rayong provinces, which have the nation’s highest rates of HIV, according to the study Web site. Subjects were given four doses of the ALVAC vaccine and two of the AIDSVAX shot over six months, then monitored for three years. They were also given advice on safe sex. There were no serious side effects, the researchers said. Those in the study who became infected with HIV during the trial were given free access to treatment. VaxGen, a venture spun off in 1995 from South San Francisco, California-based biotech company Genentech Inc., ceased development of AIDSVAX in 2003 after a trial showed it didn’t prevent people from getting HIV. The Global Solutions for Infectious Diseases , a South San Francisco-based non-profit organization, acquired the rights to AIDSVAX. The trial was funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Army Medial Research and Materiel Command. To contact the reporter on this story: Simeon Bennett in Singapore at sbennett9@bloomberg.net .

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European Stocks, U.S. Futures Drop; BHP Billiton, Hennes & Mauritz Decline

September 24, 2009

By Daniela Silberstein Sept. 24 (Bloomberg) — European and U.S. stock-index futures slid and most Asian shares fell on speculation a six- month rally has outpaced the prospects for earnings as the Federal Reserve nears the end of efforts to lift the economy. BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s biggest mining company, declined in Sydney. Royal Dutch Shell Plc may retreat as oil decreased for a second day in New York. Aiful Corp., Japan’s second-largest consumer lender by assets, tumbled 24 percent after forecasting a full-year loss. Futures on the Dow Jones Euro Stoxx 50 Index, a benchmark for the euro region, retreated 0.6 percent as of 7:22 a.m. in London. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index may drop 20, according to Cantor Index. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 0.1 percent, while shares advanced in Japan, where trading resumed after a three-day holiday. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures dropped 0.2 percent. The benchmark index for U.S. equities fell yesterday as the Fed signaled it will use fewer tools to bolster economic growth. The central bank, following a two-day policy meeting, changed the wording in the final paragraph of its statement to say it will continue to employ a “wide range of tools” to bolster the economy. In its August statement, it said it would use “all available” tools. The Fed left its target rate for overnight loans between banks in a record-low range between zero and 0.25 percent, and said it will stay “exceptionally low” for an “extended period.” The central bank said the economy has “picked up,” activity in the housing industry has increased, household spending seems to have stabilized and businesses are cutting back on investments and staffing at a slower pace. Six-Month Rally The S&P 500 has climbed 57 percent and Europe’s Stoxx 600 has soared 55 percent since March 9 as earnings at companies from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to GlaxoSmithKline Plc surpassed projections and the German and French economies unexpectedly exited recessions. The rally has pushed valuations on the S&P 500 to 19.8 times the reported earnings of its companies, the highest level since 2004, while the Stoxx 600 is valued at 47.5 times reported profit, the most expensive level since 2003, according to weekly data compiled by Bloomberg. Leaders from the Group of 20 nations will meet in Pittsburgh today and tomorrow to work on an accord to prevent a repeat of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression and ensure a sustained recovery. U.S. President Barack Obama and his counterparts may be saddled with the weakest recovery since World War II if they are to pay off the $9 trillion tab they ran up rescuing the world economy. BHP, Shell BHP declined 1.5 percent to A$37.78 in Australia, while Rio Tinto Group, the world’s third-largest mining company, slid 1.4 percent to A$60.87. Aluminum, lead, nickel and tin fell on the London Metal Exchange. Shell, BP Plc and Total SA may retreat as oil declined as much as 1.3 percent to $68.10 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. A U.S. government report showed a larger- than-expected increase in fuel stockpiles in the world’s largest energy-consuming nation. Hennes & Mauritz AB , Europe’s second-largest clothing retailer, said third-quarter net income rose to 3.46 billion kronor ($500 million) from 3.33 billion kronor a year earlier. Analysts had estimated a profit of 3.5 billion kronor, according to a survey compiled by Bloomberg. Sanofi, AstraZeneca Sanofi-Aventis SA may be active. An HIV vaccine has for the first time been proven effective against the virus responsible for AIDS, according to a U.S.-funded study involving more than 16,000 volunteers in Thailand. A combination effort that includes ALVAC, made by Sanofi-Aventis, and AIDSVAX, a product of VaxGen Inc., prevented infections in 31.2 percent of people in the trial compared with those on a placebo, scientists said. AstraZeneca Plc may move. The U.K. drugmaker was cut to “sell” from “neutral” by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. as gains made on positive results for the Brilinta clot-fighting medicine give way to concern that generic competition may erode sales. Aiful sank 24 percent to 102 yen in Tokyo on its loss forecast and plans to cut as much as 44 percent of its workforce. A report today may show sales of existing U.S. homes climbed in August to the highest level in two years, another sign the real-estate collapse that triggered the global recession is abating, economists said. Separate data from the Labor Department is projected to show the number of Americans seeking jobless benefits rose last week. To contact the reporter on this story: Daniela Silberstein in Zurich at dsilberstei2@bloomberg.net .

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HIV Vaccine Study May Bring `Glimmer’ of Hope After Merck, Sanofi Setbacks

September 23, 2009

By Simeon Bennett and Jason Gale Sept. 23 (Bloomberg) — The search for a vaccine to prevent HIV has eluded scientists for a quarter of a century. They will find out if they are a step closer when the results of the world’s largest HIV vaccine trial are presented tomorrow. The U.S.-funded study of 16,000 volunteers involves a vaccine that combines two older shots developed by Sanofi- Aventis SA and VaxGen Inc. While scientists aren’t holding out for a major breakthrough, they are hopeful the data will give them some indication that they are heading in the right direction, said Marie-Paule Kieny , director of the World Health Organization’s Initiative for Vaccine Research in Geneva. The results presented in Bangkok may be the first turning point since 2007, when an attempt by Whitehouse Station, New Jersey-based Merck & Co. was terminated after the shot appeared to boost people’s chances of becoming infected. It was one of several fizzled attempts to slow the spread of AIDS, which infects about 6,800 new people every day. “I don’t think there is a lot of expectation that the efficacy of this vaccine will be very high,” Kieny said in a telephone interview from Oxford, England. “Any hint towards identifying something which is protective in humans would be good news.” The Thai study looked at whether different infection- fighting strategies devised by Paris-based Sanofi and VaxGen could be combined in a two-pronged approach. Trojan Horse The first vaccine, called ALVAC, uses a canarypox virus that’s been disabled so as not to cause sickness in humans as a Trojan horse to smuggle three genetic fragments of HIV into the body. It’s designed to coax the immune system to issue so-called T-cells to hunt and kill infected cells. The second shot, called AIDSVAX, contains an HIV protein called gp120 that the virus uses to enter human cells. It’s designed to encourage the body to produce neutralizing antibodies to destroy HIV viruses before they infect healthy cells. Both vaccines failed in previous trials where they were tested separately. Sanofi, which made ALVAC, stopped development of the shot after a study showed it didn’t boost the body’s immune system. VaxGen, a venture spun off in 1995 from South San Francisco, California-based biotech company Genentech Inc., ceased development of AIDSVAX in 2003 after a trial showed it didn’t prevent people from getting HIV. The Global Solutions for Infectious Diseases , a South San Franciso-based non-profit organization, acquired the rights to VaxGen’s shot. ‘Glimmer of Success’ In 2004, a group of U.S. AIDS researchers said in a letter to the journal Science that the trial of the combined vaccines would probably disappoint and shouldn’t be allowed to proceed because of the failure of the two previous studies. “Many people in the vaccine research field will not be surprised if the ALVAC-AIDSVAX vaccine regimen proves to be ineffective,” the New York-based AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition said in a preview of the trial results e-mailed to Bloomberg. “However, history tells us that the development of any vaccine involves decades of work and a range of disappointments before the first glimmer of success.” The researchers enrolled volunteers in Thailand’s Chon Buri and Rayong provinces, which have the nation’s highest rates of HIV, according to the study Web site. Subjects were given four doses of the ALVAC vaccine and two of the AIDSVAX shot over six months, then monitored for three years. They were also given condoms and advice on safe sex. An interim analysis in July 2007 showed there were no safety concerns with the vaccines, the researchers said at the time. The trial was funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Army Medial Research and Materiel Command. To contact the reporters on this story: Simeon Bennett in Singapore at sbennett9@bloomberg.net ; Jason Gale in Singapore at j.gale@bloomberg.net .

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Chimpanzees Aren’t Immune to AIDS as Virus Sickens, Kills Primates in Wild

July 23, 2009

By Rob Waters July 23 (Bloomberg) — Chimpanzees, the closest animal relatives to humans, aren’t immune to the deadly impact of AIDS as scientists long believed, researchers reported in the journal Nature . Wild chimpanzees infected with a version of the simian immunodeficiency virus , or SIV, had a 10-to-16-fold higher risk of dying early than uninfected chimps, said the scientists, who followed 94 chimps for nine years at a national park in Tanzania

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