QPP are always finding ways to upskill our staff in order to keep our service provision as up-to-date and high quality as possible. Earlier in November, QPP sent staff members to ASHM’s HIV/AIDS conference to learn about how the HIV sector is going in Australia, Asia and the Pacific region. Here is what a few of our staff had to say about the conference… Michael The ASHM symposium was little overwhelming, to be... Read more

Emotional and mental wellbeing is an important aspect of living well with HIV.  There may be many aspects of our emotional and mental health make-up that all converge together (sometimes not at the same time) that will determine if we are having a good day, a good week, or a good life, such that we may be generally happy, well and content. Often too, our emotional and mental wellbeing may also be linked to physical... Read more

Image: ViiV Healthcare Dolutegravir used alone without other antiretrovirals was unable to keep viral load suppressed in some people who switched from a standard 3-drug combination regimen, according to research presented at the 2017 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) last month in Seattle. But evidence continues to show that dolutegravir plus a single other drug can work well as... Read more

Gilead Sciences announced that it has submitted a New Drug Application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for an investigational, once-daily single tablet regimen containing bictegravir (BIC), a novel investigational integrase strand transfer inhibitor (formerly GS-9883), and emtricitabine (FTC)/tenofovir alafenamide (TAF) for the treatment of HIV-1 infection in adults. BIC/FTC/TAF has demonstrated high... Read more

The Queensland Needle and Syringe Program (QNSP) aims to reduce the incidence of blood borne viruses (BBVs) and injecting related injuries and disease. The program supplies sterile injecting equipment to injecting drug users with the aim of ensuring users do not share or re-use needles, thus reducing the spread of BBVs within the wider community. Many people rely on needles, lancets or syringes to manage medical... Read more

The US FDA has approved a new once-daily version of Merck’s antiretroviral (ARV) Isentress, known as Isentress HD.  Until now, Isentress (raltegravir) had been available only as a twice-daily treatment. Treatment with Isentress HD entails taking two 600 mg tablets once a day, compared with taking 400 mg of Isentress twice daily. The new drug has been approved for use in combination with other ARVs to treat HIV... Read more

Queensland Positive People was invited by Health Consumers Queensland to showcase ‘Peer Navigation for People Living with HIV’ at their annual Forum in Townsville, Thursday May 18. The forum, tilted ‘Power and Passion: Culture change through consumer engagement and partnerships,’ showcased great examples of consumer and community engagement in Queensland. Apart from QPP’s Peer Navigation Program... Read more

An unexpectedly high number of HIV-negative gay and bisexual men taking pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in Amsterdam were found to have hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, suggesting HCV is being transmitted sexually between men with and without HIV, according to a presentation last month at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Seattle. Starting in the early 2000s researchers in the U.K. and... Read more

ODEFSEY – a new combination pill containing rilpivirine (Edurant - an existing NNRTI), TAF (tenofovir alafenamide), and FTC (Emtriva - emtricitabine) was registered in Australia by Gilead Sciences in October 2016, and has now become available (from 01 May 2017) on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) for patient co-payment subsidy. Odefsey is a combination product containing tenofovir alafenamide (TAF) which is... Read more

01 March, 2017 -The Medical Services Advisory Committee (MSAC) has provided recommendations on new approaches to cervical screening in Australia. Following a comprehensive review of the current evidence for cervical screening, MSAC has recommended for both Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccinated and unvaccinated women that: an HPV test should be undertaken every five years cervical screening should commence at 2... Read more