HIV

With a great sadness I learnt today that Scott passed away. The IAS obituary says everything about him as a great scientist. I just would like to remember him as a very good friend who cared about children throughout his professional life. In 2006 we chaired together the WHO working group to develop the guidelines for antiretroviral  therapy “Toward universal access”. Scott has been mentoring me in an unforgettable way !

It was announced at the 8th European AIDS Conference that Angela Colbers and David Burger received the Hector Research Award in HIV 2021 in clinical and/or epidemiological science on behalf of the ODYSSEY trial team!

The winning paper Simplified dolutegravir dosing for children with HIV weighting 20kg or more pharmacokinetic and safety substudies of the multicentre randomised ODYSSEY trial, can be found here.

Project New Generation (PNG+) are a group of young people living with HIV who serve as the voice of the youth involved in the REACH study. Made up of two groups, one based in St. Petersburg and the other in Irkutsk, and supported by local psychologists, this group of 20 bring to the forefront, issues that the youth living with HIV are directly affected by. The activities of PNG+ are led by the Penta PPI team.

The CARMA team in the EPIICAL consortium have just published the article Early ART initiation during infancy preserves natural killer cells in young European adolescents living with HIV (CARMA cohort) in the Journal of International AIDS Society.

HIV infection causes pathological changes in the natural killer cell compartment, a type of white blood cell with enzymes that kill cells infected with a virus.

This year, at the International Workshop on HIV Pediatrics and IAS our ODYSSEY and SMILE studies and EPIICAL will be presenting abstracts in various sessions.

The International Workshop on HIV Pediatrics 2021 will be taking place from the 16th to the 17th of July 2021. It is considered to be the only meeting entirely devoted to research in the prevention and treatment of HIV infections in infants,

On June 21-22, the International Workshop on Innovation in the delivery of HIV care will take place virtually. This is an important workshop highlighting the need for flexibility and innovation when it comes to caring for people living with HIV, to circumvent occurrences beyond our control that could negatively impact the type of care and treatment that healthcare workers provide.

Participants will have the chance to share and learn how their peers provide care in terms of the innovative measures they introduced due to COVID-19,

Authors: Chloe Lanyon, Janet Seeley, Stella Namukwaya, Victor Musiime, Sara Paparini, Helen Nakyambadde, Christine Matama, Anna Turkova, Sarah Bernays

Published in: Journal of International Aids Society

Abstract

Introduction: Sustaining optimal adherence is the major challenge facing adolescents living with HIV (ALHIV), particularly in low-resource settings, where “second-line” is often the last accessible treatment option.

EPIICAL is proud to have presented four abstracts at the CROI conference this year, sharing updated information on viral decay and the immune response of children living with HIV who begin treatment early in life.

• EFFECT OF HIV ON IMMUNE ACTIVATION AND EXHAUSTION IN CD4 AND CD8 T CELLS IN INFANTS Stefano Rinaldi, Vinh B. Dinh, Suresh Pallikkuth, Lesley D.

The anti-HIV drug Dolutegravir improves outcomes for children with HIV infection when given in a 3-drug combination. These results come from the ODYSSEY trial which was presented yesterday at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections.

Dolutegravir has a number of potential advantages, including:

• Few drug-to-drug interactions, making it easier to use when treating people who need treatment for other conditions such as tuberculosis
• High potency at a low milligram dose,

Authors: Cecilia L. Moore, Anna Turkova , Hilda Mujuru , Adeodata Kekitiinwa, Abbas Lugemwa, Cissy M. Kityo, Linda N. Barlow-Mosha, et al, ODYSSEY trial team

Published in: BMC Infectious Diseases

Background: Dolutegravir (DTG)-based antiretroviral therapy (ART) is highly effective and well-tolerated in adults and is rapidly being adopted globally. We describe the design of the ODYSSEY trial which evaluates the efficacy and safety of DTG-based ART compared with standard-of-care in children and adolescents.

Penta is the coordinator for the newly funded EDCTP project – UNIVERSAL!  Later in the day, we will be speaking with partners at the official kick-off meeting.

This morning, at the 23rd International AIDS Conference, our collaborator Martina Penazzato provided a plenary speech on pediatric HIV. We met with her and asked for her thoughts on what urgent action we need to take to end AIDS in children.

Read more.

On 12 January 2021, the European Medicine Agency approved the use of dolutegravir 5mg dispersible tablets for treating HIV in young children living in Europe. This decision was based, in part, on data from our ODYSSEY trial, which we are conducting in close collaboration with the MRC CTU at the University College London.

The EMA also authorised updating dosing recommendations for dolutegravir film-coated tablets (10mg, 25mg and 50mg) for children six years and older and weighing at least 14kg,

With the world engulfed by the COVID-19 pandemic, you may not have heard about some of the breakthroughs that the scientific community has made in the treatment of paediatric HIV. One such breakthrough is the development of dispersible dolutegravir.

Find more on how we get to this in this article published in The Lancet on 12 December 2020.

The Cascade of Care, more commonly known as the HIV care continuum, is a calculation of how many people in a specific population diagnosed with HIV are initially linked to care, retained in care and have achieved viral suppression. It is an important tool in measuring success in controlling the HIV infection, identifying gaps in national HIV/AIDS strategies and set directions to improve care.

On behalf of EPIICC and REACH researchers,

Author: Anna Turkova, Evgeny Voronin, Yulia Plotnikova, Anna Samarina, Edith Milanzi, Vladimir Rozenberg, Liubov Okhonskaia, Inga Latysheva, Aleksey Plynsky, Elena Fertikh, Siobhan Crichton, Charlotte Jackson, Ali Judd, Intira J Collins, on behalf of the European Pregnancy and Paediatric Infections Cohort Collaboration (EPPICC)

Published in: 12th International Workshop on HIV Pediatrics

View Poster

Background:

The cascade of care summarises the 90-90-90 UNAIDS targets,

Authors: Singh R, Baker M, Thapar M, Gibb D, Turkova A, Ford D, Ruel T, Wiznia A, Farhad M, Alvero C, Green J, Bollen P, Colbers A, Burger D, Acosta E

Published in: 12th International Workshop on HIV Pediatrics

View Abstract booklet

Background: HIV treatment options remain limited in children. The recent Tivicay (dolutegravir,