Adult HIV treatment guidelines updated.

On April 7 the U.S. guidelines for antiretroviral treatment were updated to reflect new information on drug interactions and toxicities, and to include a new table on expanded access to antiretrovirals not yet approved (currently the only one available through such a program is tipranavir). The current official U.S. HIV guidelines are always online at the AIDSinfo site published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, http://www.aidsinfo.nih.gov/ (you need to click on the proper category listed on the left of the page, then click again to download the document you want in the format desired--usually PDF). [Note: now that the nonocccupational exposure document (what to do if the condom breaks, etc.) is official, it is available on this site as well.]

On April 8 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published the following description of the changes made in the current revision:

   The Guidelines for the Use of Antiretroviral
   Agents in HIV-Y-Infected Adults and Adolescents
   has been revised to include up-to-date
   drug information, including updated information
   on nevirapine hepatotoxicity risks, the
   interaction between rifampin and ritonavirboosted
   saquinavir, new pregnancy data for
   efavirenz, and new contraindications and
   warnings for ritonavir and lopinavir/ritonavir
   use. Also included in the updated document is
   a new table, Table 30, providing information
   on the tipranavir expanded access program.

   All changes to the document are highlighted
   in yellow.

   The updated guidelines document is available
   at the AIDSinfo Web site at:
   http://www.aidsinfo.nih.gov/.
   You can view, order hard copies of the
   guidelines, or request them by email at the
   web site.

   The AIDSinfo website is also a useful source
   of other information related to HIV/AIDS,
   including other treatment and prevention
   guidelines, downloadable databases for PDAs
   (Personal Digital Assistants), and HIV/AIDS--related
   clinical trials information.