The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 276 No 7384 p65
21 January 2006

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HIV/hepatitis co-infection meeting a success

HIV and hepatitis specialists met last week in London for the inaugural British Co-Infection Association meeting. The meeting is the first to bring together specialists in both diseases in a forum focused on addressing the challenges of treating co-infected patients.

Rosy Weston, senior principal pharmacist for HIV and sexual health at St Mary’s NHS Trust and member of the scientific committee for the meeting, said that the discussions highlighted the complexities of drug treatment of hepatitis and HIV co-infection.

“Several speakers focused on the potential for pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic drug interactions to occur with antivirals for hepatitis and antiretrovirals for HIV, which require dose adjustment and monitoring. Clearly, the challenge for pharmacists is to keep up to date in an area of medicine which is relatively new, with constantly changing drug treatment options, as we gain greater insight into both infections and the interplay between them.”