New Products from Until There’s A Cure!

We have several new items for the Holiday 2009 season — all of them reasonably priced and wonderful options for gift-giving to the important people in your lives.

World AIDS Day is December 1st — are you ready? Show your support with our limited edition World AIDS Day T-shirt. Call 1.800.88.UNTIL to order!

Our 2010 Calendar features our iconic celebrity public service advertisements — at just $15, it’s a great way to show your support while you stay organized! Learn more here.

Our new red AIDS ribbon Key Chain is an easy way to help us “unlock” a cure for HIV/AIDS — just $5, made in the USA, and lead-free, this key chain makes a great stocking stuffer! Learn more here.

Until There’s A Cure: The Cookbook! Enjoy some of our “family” recipes and support the fight against HIV/AIDS with this fantastic cookbook featuring recipes from UTAC’s supporters and staff. At $20, it makes a wonderful addition to your collection, or a meaningful gift for someone else. Learn more here.

-Until There’s A Cure

Thai Vaccine Trial: Overblown Results or Tentative Success?

Ever since the announcement that the largest-ever clinical trial of an AIDS vaccine had been shown to provide at least modest protection against HIV infection, scientists, AIDS policy experts, and pundits have attempted to explain the findings. Often, those explanations left a great deal to be desired.

The trial, conducted in Thailand, utilized more than 16,000 Thai volunteers, was administered by the US Army, and was financed by the National Institutes of Health. The results have been hotly debated ever since their release: some argue that the trial demonstrates a clear efficacy of an AIDS vaccine regimen for the first time, even though the numbers of those protected from infection were quite small compared to the sample size. Others, including The Wall Street Journal, counter that because of that disparity, the statistical significance of the results should be questioned.

Regardless of the ultimate resolution of this debate, the trial has demonstrated one thing clearly: the need for an AIDS vaccine exists. No matter how the results are portrayed, the fact of the matter is that more people have been infected with HIV — and a cure is still out of reach. Whether this particular vaccine regimen is determined to have protected a few or to have had statistically no effect, research must continue.

Until There’s A Cure is committed to supporting that research. We support research performed by IAVI; we support the efforts by AVAC to promote vaccine trials. We helped seed GSID, one of the partners in the Thai vaccine trial. We will continue to support this research because we need a cure — science does not produce easy answers and rarely do benefits arise without struggles and setbacks. We will continue to push for vaccine advocacy, care and services, prevention education, and vaccine research Until There’s A Cure, and we can’t do it without you.

Please join us in helping to make AIDS a memory.

-Until There’s A Cure

August 27th: Fashionable Fundraiser for amfAR

Please join Until There’s A Cure at several Bloomingdale’s locations across the country tomorrow! We will be participating in the Fashionable Fundraiser event, which is a partnership between Bloomingdale’s and amfAR. UTAC will have booths and volunteers at many locations, and we will be selling the silver plate Cuffs and Jelly bracelets. We look forward to seeing you for a great event!

UTAC will be at the following stores:
59th St, Manhattan
Soho, Manhattan
San Francisco Center, CA
Stanford Shopping Center, CA
Newport Beach, CA
Beverly Center, CA
Sherman Oaks, CA
Southcoast Plaza, CA
Century City, CA
Chevy Chase, MD
Chestnut Hill, MA
and potentially more to follow!

See you tomorrow!

Introducing the new PSA with Michael Phelps!

Michael Phelps has joined the ranks of celebrities who have lent their names and faces to the Until There’s A Cure PSA campaign. Please view his new ads on our website — and if you are interested in using one for your publications, please contact us and download PDFs of our PSAs at our student campaign site.

-Until There’s A Cure

Updates in Health, HIV Awareness

– FDA approval for a second-generation female condom, considered to be a boost in the fight against HIV in developing nations

– Congratulations to AIDS Walk New York and Gay Men’s Health Crisis for raising a record-breaking amount of corporate sponsorship for this year’s annual event.

– Gilead Sciences, a leader in HIV research and medical therapies, has purchased CV Therapeutics, which develops small-molecule drugs used to treat cardiovascular diseases. About Gilead and CV:
“Gilead Sciences is a biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops and commercializes innovative therapeutics in areas of unmet medical need. The company’s mission is to advance the care of patients suffering from life-threatening diseases worldwide. Headquartered in Foster City, California, Gilead has operations in North America, Europe and Australia.
“CV Therapeutics, Inc., headquartered in Palo Alto, California, is a biopharmaceutical company primarily focused on applying molecular cardiology to the discovery, development and commercialization of novel, small molecule drugs for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. CV Therapeutics Europe Ltd. is the company’s European subsidiary based in the United Kingdom.” —CV Therapeutics

– In Uganda, the Ministry of Health has announced an initiative to place nearly 50,000 more people on anti-retroviral therapy. The Ministry:

recommended that anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment should start when the CD4 count of adults is less than 250, instead of 200 as has been the case, Sam Zaramba, the director-general of Health Services, said in a statement.

-Until There’s A Cure

Until There’s A Cure Celebrity Poker Weekend!

Come spend the weekend of March 27th in Palm Springs and play poker against celebrities, win cash and great prizes, and enjoy great live music — all while benefiting a great cause: Until There’s A Cure!

The City of Palm Springs invites you to the Spa Resort Casino for an incredible weekend benefiting Until There’s A Cure Foundation. Friday night will feature the Celebrity Tournament, while Saturday night will feature a gala event with entertainment and a silent auction to benefit the Foundation.

Please visit http://weknowwhatyouneed.com/ for more information on the event and how to get involved.

See you in Palm Springs!

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Keep up with the Foundation on Twitter: @Until_Dot_Org