Archive for the ‘News’ Category
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FDA bans dozens of Ranbaxy-made generic drugs
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Health officials have banned dozens of drugs made by Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd after the generic drugmaker failed to fix numerous record-keeping and other operational problems, although the medications themselves are considered safe.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Tuesday it would block more than 30 generic drugs from entering the United States following ongoing procedural violations in manufacturing at Ranbaxy's Dewas and Paonta Sahib plants in India.
It also will not approve any new drugs made at the plants until the problems are resolved, the FDA said.
The violations concerned the manufacturing process and not the drugs themselves, the agency added, urging patients not to stop taking any medications and to talk to their doctors.
A sampling of products made at the two plants showed no concerns, they added.
"This is a preventive action taken to protect the quality of the drugs used each day by millions of Americans by ensuring that the process used to make the drugs adheres to the FDA standards for quality manufacturing," said Douglas Throckmorton, deputy director for the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and research (CDER).
The move is the latest blow against India's leading drugmaker, which is also the subject of a separate criminal probe by the U.S. Justice Department for allegedly bringing adulterated and misbranded medications into the United States.
Susan Heavey, for Reuters -
Over 500′ Indian troops have HIV
More than 500 soldiers belonging to an elite paramilitary force in India are infected with HIV, the chief of the force has said.
Seventy troops of the 173-year-old Assam Rifles have died of the infection in the past 10 years, according to Lieutenant General Karan Singh Yadava.
Many of the Assam Rifles troops are posted in north-eastern India and are engaged in fighting local insurgencies.
India has one of the highest numbers of people with HIV in the world.
Lt Gen Yadava said the force is organising sex education lessons for troops.
"We have asked our men to curb the menace (of HIV infections) with full strength," he said.
The Assam Rifles are recruited and deployed in the north-east of India - where they help maintain security or quell insurgencies in states such Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland.
They are posted in areas close to the Burmese border which have some of the highest rates of HIV infection in India.
Subir Bhaumik, for BBC News -
R.E.A.C.H. Now 2008 – Youth Conference on HIV and AIDS
Received from Save Lanka Kids:
'R.E.A.C.H. Now 2008' is a three day conference on HIV and AIDS for youth. The theme of this conference is to Rise for Equality and Act for Change and Hope. This conference will enable them to join hands in one forum to network with each other, discuss pressing issues, fill in gaps and formulate a feasible youth response regarding this epidemic.
Venue: Waters Edge, Colombo, Sri Lanka
Dates: 19-21 October 2008
Interested parties and potential speakers can contact the organisers at hivoutreach@gmail.com. -
Preparedness for AIDS vaccine trials in India
India bears a heavy disease burden of HIV/AIDS infected and affected people. A safe, effective and accessible preventive AIDS vaccine, used along with other preventive interventions, is urgently needed to stem the epidemic. This review highlights the extensive preparedness activities undertaken from 2002 by the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), its Indian government and non government partners with the Indian scientific, political, media and community stakeholders and the capacity building process, before the conduct of the first ever AIDS vaccine trials in India in early 2005.
Issues addressed included mistrust of clinical research due to past history of some unethical trials, transparency, community involvement, stigma and discrimination, provision for care and treatment of participants, informed consent, gender considerations, approval process, and operational aspects.
http://www.icmr.nic.in/ijmr/2008/june/0605.pdf -
UNAIDS Poster Competition for World AIDS Day
We at UNAIDS are back with this exciting effort at mainstreaming the issues of sexual minorities in our country. We now announce the highly popular poster competition for World AIDS Day (WAD) this year.
This is what you can do if you are a MSM, transgender or lesbian/bisexual women's group of any sexual orientation (except heterosexual) or any gender identity. This year you will notice that we are bringing in the lesbian/bisexual women into the ambit of this poster competition in an effort to make visual their issues in mainstream society.
How you go about winning this competition:(From UNAIDS)
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Controversy over minor girl’s death
WARANGAL: The death of a seven-year-old girl due to AIDS virus on Vinayaka Chavithi day has been clouded in mystery with her parents alleging that their daughter contacted HIV after she underwent blood transfusion at a hospital here.
The distraught parents Kadari Butchaiah and Komala, who initially refused to take her body from the MGM government hospital, said she underwent blood transfusion at a children's hospital in the city. The girl was injected four blood units at a hospital here on Aug 4. However, with her condition deteriorating, the doctors carried out tests on the girl and found out that she was HIV-positive on Aug 16. The blood was brought from two private blood banks in the city.
The Times of India
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First Annual HIV Science Symposium 2008
Dear All,
We are pleased to announce that the First Annual HIV Science Symposium 2008, co-sponsored by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), New Delhi and Department of Biotechnology, New Delhi will be held in this month.
This symposium will cover various topics encompassing HIV epidemiology, pathogenesis, host-virus interactions, immune responses to infection, disease progression, opportunistic infections, current treatment strategies, natural history of HIV disease in India, vaccines, sexually transmitted diseases, and co-infections with TB and hepatitis viruses.
VENUE: Vigyan Auditorium, Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) Campus, Taramani, Chennai-600113
DATE: 22 & 23 (Monday and Tuesday), September 2008.
For more information about the SYMPOSIUM and for REGISTRATION, please log on to www.yrgcare.org -
Imphal: TV Game show on HIV starts
Imphal, August 31: ISTV Network today kicked off the World Bank - ISTV Game Show in a function held at Kangla Hall.
Health and Family Welfare Minister Ph Parijat and Youth Affairs and Sports Minister N Biren graced the function as chief guest and guest of honour respectively.
ISTV Network president Kh Kuleswar presided over the function.
Speaking at the function, N Biren said that the State Government would discuss at the Cabinet level about the ways and means to provide free second line ART to the persons living with HIV/AIDS in the State.
Maintaining that the crucial time for fighting HIV/AIDS has already come, he also appealed to the NGOs, Government agencies, HIV/AIDS infected people and general public to fight the virus collectively instead of playing the blame game.
Imphal Free Press -
Why are the young people absent from AIDS Conferences?
HIV and AIDS in children is of increasing global concern and many specialists are fully dedicated to fighting it. While there have been a total of 17 International AIDS Conferences (IAC) since 1985, the presence of children and adolescents at these conferences has been virtually nonexistent; their voices, more or less silent.
Children have become a key population when it comes to HIV and AIDS. Although children aged under 18 worldwide may not be able to unite and form networks the way injection drugs users (IDUs) or men who have sex with men (MSM) have, they can speak up and express themselves, inspiring people to action.
However, their under-representation at AIDS Conferences deprives them of this chance and results in diminished attention being paid to them. "It's terrible! There should be many more kids my age", exclaimed Ned Heylar, 12.
At the opening ceremony of the 17th International AIDS conference in Mexico City, Karen Dunaway Gonzalez, a 12-year-old from Honduras spoke to the 23,000 conference participants and received a standing ovation - the only one in the entire four-hour long ceremony.
Karen is HIV positive and her words were clearly a wake up call to the whole crowd. They certainly moved me. For the first time I felt that I really started to understand what it was like to live as a child with HIV - and the challenges such children face.
HIV/AIDS eForums
© 2008 Wake Up Pune.
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