Accepting Nominations for New Scientific Members for the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Panel on Antiretroviral Guidelines for Adults and Adolescents
The DHHS Panel on Antiretroviral Guidelines for Adults and Adolescents (or the Panel) is accepting nominations for new members with clinical research and/or practice expertise in HIV management to serve a 3-year term beginning February 2008. There is an option for reappointment at the end of the term.
The Panel is a Working Group of the Office of AIDS Research Advisory Counsel of the National Institutes of Health. The Panel is comprised of approximately 30 members who are clinicians, researchers, academicians, DHHS representatives, and community representatives with expertise in HIV management in the United States. The Panel meets monthly via teleconferencing and annually in a face-to-face meeting to review and critically evaluate emerging scientific data relating to antiretroviral therapy and revise the "Guidelines for the Use of Antiretroviral Agents in HIV-1-Infected Adults and Adolescents." The guideline is a living document that can be found at http://AIDSinfo.nih.gov. This document is downloaded an average of 5,000 times a day and is widely used by HIV practitioners and researchers.
Panel members are not compensated for their time commitment and travel support is generally not provided.
The Panel is currently seeking nominations for new members with expertise in HIV clinical trials, outcomes research, and/or clinical practice who will work with other Panel members in critically evaluating new information and preparing revisions to the guidelines. The candidates should be recognized U.S. experts in HIV medicine who have outstanding records of publications and presentations in areas related to antiretroviral therapy. The successful candidates will be appointed to a 3-year term beginning February 2008.
The nomination should include a curriculum vitae and a letter of nomination or letter of interest with specific reference as to how the nominee would contribute to the work of the Panel. Please submit nominations to Alice Pau, Pharm.D. at the following address no later than October 5, 2007.
Alice K. Pau, Pharm.D., Executive Secretary, Division of Clinical Research, NIAID-NIH, Bldg 10, Rm 11C103, Bethesda, MD 20892 or e-mail to apau@niaid.nih.gov.
FDA Advisory Committee Unanimously Recommends Accelerated Approval of Raltegravir
On Wednesday, September 5, the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Antiviral Drugs Advisory Committee unanimously recommended accelerated approval of the anti-HIV drug, raltegravir, in combination with other antiretroviral therapy (ART) for the treatment of HIV infection in treatment-experienced patients. If approved, raltegravir will be the first of a new class of antiretroviral drugs, integrase inhibitors.
The committee's recommendation was based mainly on review of safety and efficacy results from studies that utilized raltegravir in combination with optimized background therapy in treatment-experienced HIV-infected patients who had previously failed antiretroviral therapies and who had resistance to at least one drug in each of three classes of oral ARTs.
