Child specific HIV drugs needed to combat virus

AFP, July, 2007

SYDNEY (AFP) — A leading HIV expert urged Wednesday drugs giants to focus on developing anti-retroviral medicines for children, after research showed early treatment of babies can reduce death rates by 75 percent.

As the International AIDS Society conference wrapped up in Sydney, US researcher Annette Sohn said some 780,000 HIV positive children globally needed anti-retroviral medicines but only 15 percent of them were receiving treatment.

Sohn, an assistant professor at the University of California San Francisco's paediatric infectious diseases division, said there was also a lack of specialised medicine developed for HIV positive children.

She said that children's medical treatment often consisted of health professionals simply breaking up adult pills into what they hoped was child-sized doses.

"Better generic paediatric anti-retrovirals that are both potent enough to achieve sustained clinical and virological improvement and have limited long-term metabolic side effects are urgently needed," ...