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☆ Federal Money Is All Over Milwaukee. Biden Hopes Voters Will Notice.
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-01 | by ( Lydia Depillis | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Across Milwaukee, residents can see evidence of federal money from laws passed under the Biden administration, if they know where to look. It shows up in a growing array of solar panels near the airport. Some money has yet to be spent, like $3.5 million to rebuild the penguin exhibit at the local zoo and $5.1 million to repair the roof of Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport. That presents both an opportunity and a challenge to Mr. Biden’s re-election campaign as it seeks to show Americans how federal investments have improved their lives. Doing so is difficult because the laws delegated many spending decisions to state and local officials, obscuring the money’s source.

Persons: Biden, Biden’s Organizations: H.I.V, Milwaukee County, American, Infrastructure Law, Milwaukee Mitchell International Locations: Milwaukee

☆ Ozempic and Wegovy Have Health Benefits Beyond Weight Loss - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-24 | by ( David Wallace-Wells | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Last year was called the year of Ozempic, though it was also a year of Ozempic backlash and Ozempic shortages, which could persist for years. Even so, we appear very far from a peak for GLP-1 drugs, like Ozempic and Wegovy, which are powered by a molecule called semaglutide, and Mounjaro, which uses its cousin tirzepatide. It seems possible to imagine a future in which almost everyone is taking some variety of GLP-1 drug, and with a pretty good reason to do so. Patients on Ozempic and Wegovy can lose 15 to 20 percent or more of their weight in a little over a year, and if they stay on the drugs, the weight tends to stay off. Semaglutide has been shown to eliminate or reduce the need for insulin among those with recent-onset Type 1 diabetes.

Persons: tirzepatide, Wegovy, we’ve, Semaglutide Locations: Alzheimer’s

☆ Chinese Company Under Congressional Scrutiny Makes Key U.S. Drugs
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-15 | by ( Christina Jewett | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A Chinese company targeted by members of Congress over potential ties to the Chinese government makes blockbuster drugs for the American market that have been hailed as advances in the treatment of cancers, obesity and debilitating illnesses like cystic fibrosis. WuXi AppTec is one of several companies that lawmakers have identified as potential threats to the security of individual Americans’ genetic information and U.S. intellectual property. A Senate committee approved a bill in March that aides say is intended to push U.S. companies away from doing business with them. The Congressional spotlight on the company has rattled the pharmaceutical industry, which is already struggling with widespread drug shortages now at a 20-year high. Some biotech executives have pushed back, trying to impress on Congress that a sudden decoupling could take some drugs out of the pipeline for years.

Organizations: New York Times Locations: WuXi, U.S

☆ Biden Should Campaign on Making Americans Live Longer Again - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-25 | by ( Ashwin Vasan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The U.S. government’s strategic response to attack this cruel disease abroad was PEPFAR, an American initiative that has saved more than 25 million lives and shaped my understanding of what muscular public health policy could accomplish. Today, as New York City’s health commissioner and a practicing doctor, I see a desperate need for similar focus and ambition here in the United States. Because of chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease — along with drug overdoses, suicide, violence — the United States has not. When developing countries needed H.I.V. When the world needed a Covid-19 vaccine, we combined government-funded research with private initiative and an enormous distribution campaign.

Persons: Biden, Covid Locations: U.S, American, New York, United States, America

☆ A Fading Weapon in the H.I.V. Fight: Condoms
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-27 | by ( Benjamin Ryan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The worrisome trend points to an urgent need for better prevention strategies as the nation struggles to beat the H.I.V. Over the past decade, prevention medication known as PrEP has helped fuel a moderate drop in H.I.V. as well as other sexually transmitted infections, has been declining across the board in recent years, not just among gay men, contributing to a rise in sexually transmitted infections. Researchers said that, with so much focus on PrEP, public health officials have overlooked condoms, contributing to the drop-off in their use. “The goal of promoting PrEP is a valuable one, but it has overshadowed other prevention strategies like condoms,” said Steven Goodreau, an H.I.V.

Persons: Gay, ”, Steven Goodreau Organizations: University of Washington, Centers for Disease Control

☆ Hydeia Broadbent, H.I.V. and AIDS Activist, Dies at 39
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-21 | by ( Orlando Mayorquin | More About Orlando Mayorquin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Hydeia Broadbent, who was born with H.I.V. Ms. Broadbent was 6 years old when she began sharing her struggle with H.I.V. In 1992, when she was 7, Ms. Broadbent was interviewed opposite Magic Johnson, the basketball star who after his own H.I.V. “I want people to know that we’re just normal people,” Ms. Broadbent, her face crumpling as she fought through tears, told Mr. Johnson. Mr. Johnson posted a clip of the conversation online in a tribute Wednesday.

Persons: Hydeia Broadbent, Loren Broadbent, Broadbent, Magic Johnson, Ms, Johnson, “ Organizations: H.I.V Locations: Las Vegas

☆ N.Y. Archdiocese Condemns Funeral of Transgender Activist at Cathedral
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-17 | by ( Liam Stack | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York condemned the funeral of a transgender community leader that was held at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Thursday, calling the event an insult to the Catholic faith and saying it was unaware of the identity of the deceased — or her vocal atheism — when it agreed to host the service. The funeral, which drew well over 1,000 people, celebrated the life of Cecilia Gentili, an activist and actress well known for her advocacy on behalf of sex workers, transgender people and people living with H.I.V. She was also a self-professed atheist, a topic around which she built a one-woman Off Broadway show. The service on Thursday was an event that most likely had no precedent in Catholic history. The pews were packed with mourners, many of them transgender, who wore daring high-fashion outfits and cheered as eulogists led them in praying for transgender rights and access to gender-affirming health care.

Persons: Cecilia Gentili, eulogists Organizations: Roman Catholic Archdiocese Locations: New York, St, Patrick’s

☆ Mourning a Transgender Activist at a Cathedral That Once Drew Protests
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-15 | by ( Liam Stack | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The pews of St. Patrick’s Cathedral were packed on Thursday for an event with no likely precedent in Catholic history: the funeral of Cecilia Gentili, a transgender activist and actress, former sex worker and self-professed atheist whose memorial functioned as both a celebration of her life and an exuberant piece of political theater. Over 1,000 mourners, several hundred of whom were transgender, arrived in daring outfits — glittery miniskirts and halter tops, fishnet stockings, sumptuous fur stoles and at least one boa sewed from $100 bills. Mass cards and a picture near the altar showed a haloed Ms. Gentili surrounded by the Spanish words for “transvestite,” “whore,” “blessed” and “mother” above the text of Psalm 25. That St. Patrick’s Cathedral would host the funeral for a high-profile transgender activist, who was well known for her advocacy on behalf of sex workers, transgender people and people living with H.I.V., might come as a surprise to some.

Persons: Cecilia Gentili, — glittery, Gentili, ” “ Locations: St, Patrick’s

☆ Syphilis Is Soaring in the U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-30 | by ( Apoorva Mandavilli | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Syphilis, once nearly eliminated in the United States, continues to resurge, reaching the highest rate of new infections recorded since 1950, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday. More than 207,000 cases were diagnosed in 2022, the last year for which data are available. That represents an 80 percent increase since 2018, and 17 percent over the previous year’s tally, according to a new C.D.C. said more than 3,700 cases of congenital syphilis were reported in 2022, roughly 11 times the number recorded a decade ago. Experts pointed to a slew of reasons for the continued increases in syphilis and other S.T.I.s.

Organizations: Centers for Disease Control Locations: United States, resurge

was exemplary, slashing the country’s death rate by nearly 90 percent from 1990 to 2019. Now a sweeping law enacted last year, the Anti-Homosexuality Act, threatens to renew the epidemic as L.G.B.T.Q. It also requires all citizens to report anyone suspected of such activity, a mandate that makes no exceptions for health care providers tending to patients. Under the law, merely having same-sex relationships while living with H.I.V. Scores of Ugandans have been evicted from homes and fired from jobs, according to interviews with lawyers and activists.

Organizations: H.I.V

The rural site had patients screened, tested and enrolled within a week. Testing remained a problem: only private laboratories offered the viral load tests that are necessary to track hepatitis treatment, and they charged several hundred dollars per test. Mr. Musah first began to feel ill as a high school student living in a small town in the north. After hundreds of dollars in tests, he was finally given a hepatitis diagnosis — but was told he would need a specialty hospital to help him. He traveled to Accra, where doctors said there were drugs, but he would have to pay for them.

Persons: Nartey, Musah Locations: Ghana, Accra

☆ A Spark That Ignited in a Brooklyn Kitchen and Continued Around the World
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-20 | by ( Jenny Block | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“It was casual and fun, but we didn’t define it,” Mr. Ighodaro said. (This time, “we sneaked a kiss upstairs,” Mr. Ratevosian said.) Mr. Ighodaro said he felt painfully aware of being the only Black person there, but “The staff was so nice. And Jirair made me feel so comfortable.”Mr. Ratevosian was impressed that Mr. Ighodaro was in Iowa to begin with. “Micheal wasn’t even a U.S. citizen, so how awesome was it that he was working to help the political process?” Mr. Ratevosian said.

Persons: ” Mr, Ighodaro, Ratevosian, Joseph R, Biden, “ Sparks, Mr, Jirair, “ Micheal wasn’t, couldn’t, ” Organizations: Democratic Iowa Locations: South Africa, Rwanda, Iowa, Des Moines, U.S

☆ 10 Charged in $20 Million Scheme to Sell Black-Market H.I.V. Drugs
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-20 | by ( Erin Nolan | More About Erin Nolan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Federal prosecutors have accused 10 people of orchestrating a $20 million scheme to “get rich” by buying and selling black-market H.I.V. medications that in some cases had been purchased from low-income patients who risked their lives by selling it. Some of those accused in the case then used the proceeds to buy luxury cars, waterfront real estate in New York City, designer clothes, jewelry and gold, according to a statement released Friday by Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. According to a 24-page indictment filed in Federal District Court in Manhattan, the scheme also involved bribing patients to use specific local pharmacies that were involved in the plot and defrauding Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance companies of millions of dollars since 2017. Mr. Williams said those accused in the case had been “preying on vulnerable members of society.” Several of the defendants are facing decades in prison on various charges, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud and health care fraud and money laundering.

Persons: Damian Williams, Williams Organizations: Southern, of, Court Locations: New York City, U.S, of New York, Manhattan

☆ ‘Cassandro’ Review: Love and Lucha Libre
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-21 | by ( Natalia Winkelman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

In conversations with Sabrina, Saúl toggles between English and Spanish, reserving the latter for colloquialisms or teasing, and the mixture gives their dialogue an organic rhythm. He uses the same blend of languages with his lover, Gerardo (Raúl Castillo), a married luchador with kids whom Saúl sees in secret. and AIDS panic was at its shrillest, and although the real-life Cassandro was sometimes rebuffed by homophobic opponents, the movie never mentions the epidemic. “Don’t you think he’s sexy?” Saúl says, referring to Cassandro as if he were a third person who might join them. The trouble is that lucha libre, built on glitz, is anything but naturalistic.

Persons: Bernal, Sabrina, Saúl, Gerardo, Raúl Castillo, reinvents, Cassandro, Williams, David Teague Organizations: Amazon Prime

☆ Where Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Delivers His Fringe Views: Not on the Trail
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-12 | by ( Sheera Frenkel | More About Sheera Frenkel | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In an online meeting with anti-vaccine activists on June 27, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a Democrat running for president, falsely said there was good evidence that vaccine research had caused millions of deaths during the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic. He also claimed that such research could have created Covid-19, H.I.V. But in an appearance before Congress on July 20, Mr. Kennedy made none of those assertions. In large public forums like Congress, Mr. Kennedy, 69, has moderated his extreme views, while continuing to advocate them in other settings. He did not mention vaccines and limited his comments on Covid to criticism of pandemic lockdowns.

Persons: Robert F, Kennedy Jr, Kennedy, “ Organizations: Democrat, Democratic, New York Times Locations: Iowa , Vermont, Virginia, Ukraine

☆ Global Regulation of Essential Medicines Is a Dangerous Mess - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-11 | by ( Vidya Krishnan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

has not released more recent numbers, and there is limited data on exactly how much of this comes from India. The global drug supply system is a vast and complex network. As of 2021, India manufactured 62 percent of the raw materials for drugs, known as active pharmaceutical ingredients. in 2001 set up a groundbreaking program to monitor safety and quality, called the Prequalification of Medicines Program or P.Q.P., which set global standards for H.I.V. The program is one of those unsung policies that keep the global health structure ticking.

Persons: —, Cipla Organizations: World Health Organization, Medicines Program Locations: India, China, United States, Europe, Sri Lanka, Gambia, Africa —, Saharan Africa, Indian

☆ For ‘Silver Tsunami’ With H.I.V., New Hope for Healthy Aging
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-10 | by ( Benjamin Ryan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

are achieving the once unthinkable: a steady march into older age. “I have been unbelievably impressed at how care for the older H.I.V. population has really exploded,” said Dr. Nathan Goldstein, who heads one such clinic at Mount Sinai in New York City. People are paying so much attention to this.” More than two dozen H.I.V. and aging experts also expressed optimism, in contrast to the more grim perspective many held a decade ago.

Persons: “, ”, Nathan Goldstein Locations: Mount Sinai, New York City

For decades, drugmakers have argued that patents are critical to bringing new drugs to the market. But in 2004, when a promising H.I.V. treatment emerged, Gilead Sciences decided to slow-walk its release to maximize profit on the company’s existing patents. Rebecca Robbins, who covers the pharmaceutical industry for The Times, discusses one man’s case and how patents can create perverse incentives to delay new and better drugs.

Persons: drugmakers, Rebecca Robbins Organizations: Gilead Sciences, The Times

☆ I’m a Pro-Life Priest. Anti-Abortion Groups Are Wrong to Oppose PEPFAR. - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-05 | by ( Richard W. Bauer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

For years, the Office of the Inspector General has reviewed PEPFAR’s practices and has never discovered misappropriation of funds for abortion. Over the last 20 years, this ambitious program has saved 25 million lives in 55 countries, most of which are in Africa. PEPFAR also has fortified education systems, helping girls stay in primary school, and stimulated economic growth in recipient countries. Faith leaders from the United States and around the world, including those who oppose abortion, have recently written letters calling for reauthorization. Despite the impressive successes of PEPFAR, we still have a way to go in the fight against AIDS.

Persons: Helms, Shepherd Smith, PEPFAR Organizations: reauthorization, AIDS Locations: Africa, United States, Saharan Africa

Excerpts from recent editorials in the United States and abroad:Aug. 31The Washington Post on sexism in the U.S. militaryNearly eight years ago, the United States opened up all military combat roles to women, clearing a pathway for female service members to join the most elite military forces. Women at multiple military bases reported that other soldiers would bang on their doors in the middle of the night. Even a program that once represented the highest ideals of the United States — its compassion, its expertise and its resources — is becoming a casualty of the country’s most destructive and divisive forces. Lack of adequate cooling during hot summers has plagued Southern states for decades, but climate change has now made it a problem in Northern states as well — Michigan, Minnesota, South Dakota, Indiana. Ukraine received the first batch of uranium munitions from the United Kingdom in March to use in its UK-made Challenger 2 tanks.

Persons: Soldiers, “, ”, George W, Bush, Anthony Fauci, Mark Dybul, PEPFAR, Henry Hyde, Dave Weldon, H.I.V, Hyde, Weldon, Biden, MAGA, Biden’s, Mr, Chris Smith of, Smith, Roe, Wade, Tommy Tuberville, Susan B, Anthony Pro, ” Nyserda, Don’t, Louisianans, it’s, commissaries, Joe Arpaio, let’s, perceptibly Organizations: Washington, Green, Ranger Regiment, Green Berets, Army Rangers, Special Operations, Army Special Operations Command, Special Forces, Army, Command, New York Times, Democrats, Republicans, Catholic Church, Republican Party, AIDS Relief, Republican, Heritage Foundation, Biden, Mr, PEPFAR, America, Family Research, United, New York State Energy Research, Development Authority, Alliance, Clean Energy, Alliance for Clean Energy, Developers, Micron Technology, Los Angeles Times, Staff, Prisons, US State Department, US Locations: United States, U.S, Afghanistan, Africa, Illinois, Florida, Chris Smith of New Jersey, Alabama, New York, Ukraine, California , Connecticut, Hawaii , Indiana , Maine , Maryland , Massachusetts, Michigan , New Jersey, New Mexico, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, Louisiana, Angola, Texas, Southern, Michigan, Minnesota, South Dakota , Indiana, Maricopa County, Ariz, Los Angeles, California, Corcoran, Tulare Lake, China, Russia, United Kingdom, Moscow, Belarus, Washington, Europe, Asia, Brazil, Indonesia

☆ Opinion | Partisan Politics Puts a Huge Win for Public Health at Risk
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-01 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

lived on the continent of Africa, where 2.3 million died of AIDS that year. There were widespread estimates that 100 million worldwide would die of AIDS in the following 20 years if something wasn’t done to better distribute treatment. And while the Catholic Church maintains its support, many evangelical leaders are now fighting against it. Over the next 20 years, PEPFAR became one of the most successful global health programs in modern history, multiplying the number of people on lifesaving treatment by 300 times, from 66,500 in 2004 to more than 20 million people in 54 countries in 2022. It saved 25 million lives and, by preventing mother-to child transmission, allowed 5.5 million babies to be born H.I.V.-free.

Persons: George W, Bush, Anthony Fauci, Mark Dybul, PEPFAR Organizations: Democrats, Republicans, Catholic Church, Republican Party, AIDS Relief Locations: Africa

☆ Expert Panel Recommends New Options for H.I.V. Prevention
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-22 | by ( Apoorva Mandavilli | More About Apoorva Mandavilli | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

An influential expert panel has given its highest recommendation to an expanded menu of H.I.V. prevention strategies for adults and adolescents, a move that will require private insurers to cover the drugs without a co-pay or deductible under the Affordable Care Act. The recommendation arrives as the Biden administration is fighting to preserve no-cost coverage of all preventive services under the A.C.A., after a Texas judge ruled the mandate to be unconstitutional. The ruling was aimed in particular at medications approved for use as pre-exposure prophylaxis (or PrEP) to prevent H.I.V., arguing that requiring its coverage violated the religious rights of employers. In the new recommendations, published on Tuesday in JAMA, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force gave its highest or “grade A” recommendation to three medications approved for PrEP.

Persons: Biden Organizations: Affordable, U.S . Preventive Services Task Force, PrEP Locations: Texas, U.S

☆ Has Scott Joplin’s ‘Thoroughly American Opera’ Found Its Moment?
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-27 | by ( Zachary Woolfe | More About Zachary Woolfe | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The singers who played the couple became Treemonisha and her adoring friend, Remus, in the opera proper. More stylized — and effective, and relevant — was the conception, in an entirely different sound world than Joplin’s, by the Isango Ensemble. “We wanted to show quite clearly that if Monisha doesn’t take that child, that child is going to die,” Dornford-May said. With the poverty in the townships — life expectancy of 49, TB rife, H.I.V. rife — with that sense of poverty, disease and death hanging over people, to take in another mouth to feed is extraordinary.”

Persons: Louis, Berlin, Chilton, Joplin, Remus, Alexander —, Rajendra, Justin Austin vibrated, Mark Dornford, wasn’t, “, Monisha, ” Dornford, ” Locations: St, Joplin, Cape Town, South Africa, Caen, France, America

The promising drug, then in the early stages of testing, was an updated version of tenofovir. The “patent extension strategy,” as the Gilead documents repeatedly called it, would allow the company to keep prices high for its tenofovir-based drugs. Gilead could switch patients to its new drug just before cheap generics hit the market. By putting tenofovir on a path to remain a moneymaking juggernaut for decades, the strategy was potentially worth billions of dollars. The delayed release of the new treatment is now the subject of state and federal lawsuits in which some 26,000 patients who took Gilead’s older H.I.V.

Persons: Gilead

☆ Anthony Fauci on His Friendship With the AIDS Activist Larry Kramer - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-04 | by ( Anthony Fauci | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

I recently attended a memorial service for Larry Kramer, the award-winning playwright, author and provocative gay activist. I had a genuinely unique relationship with Larry for more than three decades, which I reflected on at his memorial and wanted to share here. A one-way conversation from Larry Kramer to Tony Fauci via the written word, in The San Francisco Examiner, reflecting a booming voice before I even knew him: “I Call You Murderers,” the headline read. “An open letter to an incompetent idiot, Dr. Anthony Fauci,” it continued. Fast-forward 32 years to May 2020: A brief two-way telephone conversation ending in a simple phrase.

Persons: Larry Kramer, Lucille Lortel, ”, Larry, Tony Fauci, “, Anthony Fauci, Tony, ” Tony Organizations: Christopher, San Francisco Examiner Locations: Greenwich Village, ”

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