US approves first-ever pill for HIV prevention

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The first-ever daily pill to help prevent against HIV was approved Monday by US regulators for use in uninfected adults who are at risk for getting the virus that causes AIDS.
Truvada, made by Gilead Sciences in California, has been on the market since 2004 and was approved by the Food and Drug Administration for a new use as a tool to help ward off HIV in otherwise healthy people, in combination with safe sex and regular testing.

Truvada

The pill as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) has been hailed by some AIDS experts as a potent new tool against human immunodeficiency virus, but some health care providers are concerned it could encourage risky sex behavior.
In addition, the regimen is estimated to cost around $14,000 per year, making it out of reach of many.
“Truvada alone should not be used to prevent HIV infection,” said Debra Birnkrant, director of the division of antiviral products at the FDA.
“Truvada as PrEP represents another effective, evidence-based approach that can be added to other prevention methods to help reduce the spread of HIV.”
The FDA said Truvada should be used as “part of a comprehensive HIV prevention strategy that includes other prevention methods, such as safe sex practices, risk reduction counseling, and regular HIV testing.”
Truvada was previously approved as a treatment for people infected with HIV to be used in combination with other antiretroviral drugs.
The decision by the FDA followed the advice of an independent panel in May that supported Truvada for prevention in uninfected people, after clinical trials showed it could lower the risk of HIV in gay men and heterosexual couples.
One study on Truvada, called the iPrEx trial, published in 2010 in the New England Journal of Medicine included 2,499 men who were sexually active with other men but were not infected with the virus that causes AIDS.
Participants were selected at random to take a daily dose of Truvada — a combination of 200 milligrams of emtricitabine and 300 milligrams of tenofovir disoproxil fumarate — or a placebo.
Those in the study who took the drug regularly had almost 73 percent fewer infections. Across the entire study, including those who had not been as diligent in taking Truvada, there were 44 percent fewer infections than in those who took a placebo.
A second study on 4,758 heterosexual couples in which one partner was infected with HIV and the other was not, showed that Truvada reduced the risk of becoming infected by 75 percent compared with a placebo.
Experts have described the results as game-changing and the first demonstration that an already-approved oral drug could decrease the likelihood of HIV infections.
Common side effects were the same as experienced by people with HIV who were taking Truvada, and included diarrhea, nausea, abdominal pain, headache, and weight loss.
However, adherence rates — meaning how often people in the study actually took the drug daily — were low in the study of men who have sex with men, just 30 percent, Birnkrant said.
In the study of heterosexual partners, adherence was much higher, between 80 and 90 percent.
Therefore, the drug label must include special instructions for health care providers on how to counsel potential users of the drug.
The drugmaker must also include a warning that Truvada for PrEP “must only be used by individuals who are confirmed to be HIV-negative prior to prescribing the drug and at least every three months during use.”
Gilead Sciences is also required to collect samples from people who test positive for HIV while taking the drug and analyze them for signs of drug resistance.
As to concerns about whether the pill might boost risky sex practices and lead people to abandon condoms as a first line of protection, Birnkrant said the studies have not shown that so far.
“We don’t really have any strong evidence to show that condoms were not used or that there was a decrease in condom use when Truvada was used,” she told reporters.
The goal of the approval is to eventually cut back on the rate of new infections in the United States, which have stayed steady in recent years at about 50,000 annually, she said.
A key goal of the US strategy against HIV/AIDS, set forth in 2010, is to decrease the number of new infections by 25 percent by 2015.
“The hope is that over time it will decrease the rate of new infections or incidence in the United States.”

EFCC Docks Banker Over N52m Fraud

Oluwatoyin Jinadu

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC on Thursday 12th July, 2012 arraigned a former banker with First City Monument Bank Plc, Oluwatoyin Jinadu before Justice Adebunkola Banjoko of the FCT High Court on a 20 count charge of forgery and theft of customers funds to the tune of N52, 000,000.00 (Fifty two million naira).
One of the charges reads: “That you Oluwatoyin Jinadu on or about the 25th day of February 2010 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, while working as a staff of First City Monument Bank stole the sum of Twenty Million Four Hundred and Eighty Five Thousand Nine Hundred and Sixty One Naira, thirteen kobo (20,485,961.13) belonging to one Josephat Okoye and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 287 of the Penal Code Act”.
Trouble started for Jinadu when a petition was sent to the EFCC alleging that as account officer to Dr. D. K. Okoye in the Wuse 2 Branch of the FCMB, Abuja, she fraudulently transferred N52 Million from Dr. Okoye’s account without his knowledge or consent, into accounts in Zenith Bank, GTBank and Union Bank.
Prosecution counsel, Samson Ugwegbulam, had sought leave of the court for the 20 count criminal charge to be read to the accused and a plea entered, which was granted. But the accused pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Ugwegbulam then asked the court for a date for the commencement of trial. But the defence counsel, Deji Shoremi, told the court that he was ready to move the bail application in respect of the accused. He told the court that the offence for which his client is being accused is bail able and the accused person being a decent working mother is not likely to jump bail or tamper with the prosecution’s witnesses.
Shoremi who maintained that the exercise of bail is purely at the discretion of the court, prayed the court to exercise its discretion in favour of his client.
In objecting to the bail application,  Ugwegbulam cited the authority of the Supreme Court ruling in Bamaiyi Vs State where the apex court held that “in considering issues of bail, a court must take into cognizance the severity of punishment ascribed to the alleged crime and the proof of evidence attached”.
He told the court that the alleged offence the accused is standing trial for carries a minimum sentence of 14 years imprisonment under Section 364 of the Penal Code Act. Ugwegbulam also referred to the overwhelming evidence contained in the proof of evidence before the court and urged that bail should be denied.
In her ruling, Justice Banjoko granted the accused bail in the sum of N5 Million with two sureties in like sum. She said that the sureties must be gainfully employed and resident in Abuja with evidence of residency provided. They are to depose to an affidavit of means, provide evidence of payment of three years tax. The sureties who are also to deposit their international passports with the court are to submit a passport photograph each. The court also directed that the accused be remanded in EFCC custody until the bail conditions are met.
Justice Banjoko then adjourned proceedings to 15th October, 2012 for the commencement of trial.

Edo Celebrates Adams Oshiomhole's Victory

ACN candidate Adams Oshiomhole won a landslide vote in the Edo state gubernatorial election of July 14 2012 by more than 72% of the total votes cast.

Car Bomb Explodes In Okene, Kogi State

A carcass of a car used by Boko Haram to bomb a church in Jos recently

2 Robbers killed as they Invade Skye Bank Port Harcourt

Four armed men came to rob Skye Bank on Agip Road in Port Harcourt this afternoon.
Thankfully they didn't succeed. Mobile police around the area engaged them in a shootout. Two robbers were killed, two escaped.

I can fish out subsidy ‘thieves’ in a week — Ribadu.

Former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC), Malam Nuhu Ribadu, yesterday said it would take him just a week to fish out those indicted in the House of Representatives subsidy probe report if given the mandate by the Federal Government.
Ribadu stated this at an interactive session with the management and staff of Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) in Abuja.
He said all the regulatory failures in Nigeria were due to the bad and docile leadership.
He blamed subsidy scam on the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPRA) for releasing fund it could not account for.
Ribadu also called on the Federal Government to reform the Nigeria Police Force to enable it to tackle corruption and insecurity in the country.
He said that the police, as an institution, had been weakened and needed to reform in order to confront the challenges of corruption and insecurity.
“We have destroyed and weakened an institution that is constitutionally assigned the responsibility to enforce law and order internally in this country,’’ Ribadu said, noting that military personnel discharged internal security duties contrary to the provisions in the constitution.
Ribadu, who is the Chairman, Special Task Force on Petroleum Revenue, urged the Federal Government to train and retrain the police to enable them to tackle corruption and insecurity in the country.