Day 3 in Vancouver- July 7

Today was the wrap-up of the 2-day Community Forum at the University of British Columbia campus.The Forum ended with a plenary session where recommendations were outlined for action. The day ended with an outside buffet salmon barbecue. Myself and other treatment publishers submitted a proposal to the Forum for setting up an internet communication infra-structure to disseminate treatment information globally. We expect to begin implementing plans fairly soon. We hope corporate sponsorship, possibly from a computer company like Apple or Microsoft, could be obtained.

Another worthy proposal was to set up a food provision model program with corporate sponsorship for a third world country. The idea is for a large food-corporation, like Beatrice or Nabisco to take the lead in assisting the establishment of this effort.

Participating in this Community Forum was very educational for me, because I learned about the situations of PWAs in many different countries. The plight in third world countries for PWAs is very bleak. People don't have proper nutrition, clean water, basic medical care and many other basic essentials, so a discussion of supplying them with protease inhibitors is futile. With all of the difficulties we face in the USA, our situation regarding AIDS drugs is better than in any other country.

Sunday is the beginning of the Int'l. Conference and "satellite symposiums." Merck, Roche and Glaxo will host symposiums on Sunday. We will begin providing reporting of treatment issues on Sunday. The Conference Opening Ceremony takes place Sunday afternoon and Conference events begin Monday morning. New longer-term data from protease inhibitor trials will be presented at the Conference. Roche, Merck, Agouron and Abbott will be presenting updates. As well, Abbott will be presenting early data from the study of ritonavir and saquinavir. The early data from the trial of sero-converters treated with a potent 3-drug therapy will be presented.

There will be discussion about when to initiate therapy for individuals. Treating early and hard seems to be an approach growing in popularity. Today I ran into an AIDS researcher who said he believes it is easier to suppress the virus earlier in disease because the virus is more homogenous. Earlier in the disease the immune system is more intact and, once viral replication is halted, viral load is rendered undetectable and therefore resistance cannot develop, then the viral load may remain undetectable.

This is still theoretical but the support for this notion among AIDS researchers is growing. I will continue to cover this issue throughout the Conference.

Stay tuned for further information.