Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PREP): Hype or Hope? Click here for a report.

Report on the excellent work of the SEXUAL AND GENDER MINORITY STUDENT FORUM, NEPAL (SGMSFN) by Augustus Nasmith, Jr. FIAR has been proud to help sponsor their activities.

Report from the 2010 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) XVIII, Feb 27 to Mar 2, 2011

Report from the Civil Society Meeting held at the United Nations, April 8, 2011

A letter to 60 Minutes regarding their March 13, 2011 segment on Counterfeit Drugs.

FIAR welcomes Augustus Nasmith to our Board. Gus has been a primal force in helping to support our friends in their HIV prevention work at Blue Diamond Society in Kathmandu, Nepal. Welcome, Gus!

FIAR is pleased to announce work on an NIH-NCCAM grant in collaboration with Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York. Our team, with Drs. Henry Sacks and Debbie Indyk, was recently awarded an R01 grant from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM). This grant is designed to undertake analysis of the literature around CAM use and HIV. Studies will be reviewed and subjected to statistical analysis using a variety of techniques, including meta-analysis, cost-effectiveness and Bayseian analystic techniques. The questions to be reviewed range from the evidence for a role for micronutrient supplementation among people living with HIV to the value of agents in managing antiretroviral side effects to the role of traditional healers. The grant has a period of 5 years. We hope the data generated may yield insight into enhancing best practices for clinicians around the world and improving the health and longevity of people with HIV.

If you would like to make a direct donation to FIAR, you can do so via PayPal directly. If your donation is for a specific project, please indicate which project. You may also send a check or money order directly to FIAR (please click on the Contact button). Thank you for your consideration!

Meconopsis horridula

FIAR, a non-profit organization, sponsors and stimulates interest in clinical trials of herbal and nutritional treatments for people with HIV, AIDS and/or chronic viral hepatitis. The goal is to show whether or not these treatments can lessen symptoms, delay the need for Western drugs or reduce side effects. Some studies are carried out in developing nations where indigenous treatments are used and antiretroviral drugs (ARV) are largely unavailable. FIAR also seeks to bring ARV, self-empowering information and prevention to such under-served areas.

FIAR studies dietary supplements and other biologic agents. Dietary supplements are defined by the Dietary Supplement Health Education Act (DSHEA) and include vitamins, minerals, amino acids, thousands of different botanicals ("herbs"), protein powders, hormones, etc. Other modalities, such as massage, Reiki, spiritual practices may be addressed in the future as FIAR grows and develops.

People need better information to help guide treatment choices! Many studies show that a high percentage of people living with HIV/AIDS already use many of these interventions. How do they work? Can they help to manage side effects of drug therapy? Can they slow the rate of progression? Can they lengthen the time on a Structured Treatment Interruption? FIAR, working with the HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis communities, clinics, hospitals, practitioners and organizations around the world designs, funds and implements clinical studies to answer some of these questions and thus help people in making better-informed treatment decisions. Negative results mean people will save money and time. Positive results may encourage coverage under insurance (like ADAP) for greater access and reduced burden of cost on our healthcare systems.

FIAR's first duty is to participants in such studies and adheres to the highest standards in informed consent, patient protection and careful monitoring. FIAR's studies use rigorous methodology to answer the clinical question posed.

For information on FIAR's current and proposed studies, click here.



RECENT NEWS:

Click here to read a report on Mr. Carter's February 2009 visit to Kathmandu, Nepal and friends at Blue Diamond Society.

We need ECONOMIC CHANGE that could employ millions. The U.S. needs to see the passage of a bill in Congress, HR 676. This is an excellent model of care for ALL Americans. Watered down versions such as that offered in the Senate by Baucus serve insurance companies and will fail as the Massachusetts model is failing. The Senate needs a companion bill to and as robust as HR676!

Click here for an analysis of the media's egregious response to the recent "marketing" study, known as "JUPITER" of statins in "healthy" people. The lies of big pharma must make us skeptical. The true value, limitations and risks of medications cannot be assessed when clinical trials are turned into marketing tools.

Click here for reports on FIAR's milk thistle study, the International Conference on AIDS and the June, 2008 United Nations General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS (UNGASS) and exciting news from Nepal!

FIAR"s director, George Carter, was invited to present at the Deutsch-Österreichischen AIDS-Kongresses (DÖAK 2007), held at the end of June 2007. The topic of his presentation was Ethics and Clinical Trials in Resource Limited Settings. He reviewed the fundamental rights of participants in clinicals trials, the frequent lack of ethics in the pharmaceutical industry as well sometimes in government studies and ideas for a way forward. You can review the slides from the presentation as a Powerpoint version or Word (.rtf) version. Click here for a link to the presentations of the day. This was a symposium of the HIVCENTER of Frankfurt University in collaboration with the Department of Tropical Medicine and Public Health of Heidelberg University at the German-Austrian AIDS conference 2007.

In the FIAR fight against AIDS, FIAR is proud to have been the fiscal sponsor for the new New York Buyers' Club (NYBC). NYBC received its 501(c)3 status in December, 2006.

In October, 2006, FIAR was the fiscal sponsor to the Complementary & Alternative Medicine Initiative (CAMI).

To avoid conflicts of interest, FIAR does not solicit funds
from pharmaceutical or nutriceutical companies.

In loving memory of Lynde Francis of the Centre in Harare, Evan Ruderman, Carlton Hogan, Keith Cylar, Jeffrey Palmer,
Sophie Jakowska, Charles J. Carter and C. Edwin Carter. And far too many more to list.

FIAR'S COMMUNITY/SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY BOARD (C/SAB)

For more information or to help out, or make a donation, please see our contact page.
Thanks for your interest in FIAR!

















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