US validates anti-AIDS drug study

The US Institute of Medicine (IOM) has approved a Ugandan study showing that the anti-AIDS drug, nevirapine, effectively prevents mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV. Controversy surrounding the drug erupted in December 2004, after the Associated Press news agency claimed US health authorities had covered up information about nevirapine's negative effects, and alleged flaws in the Ugandan study. However, in a recent statement, IOM confirmed that the east African country had conducted the trial in accordance with US and international standards of research and patient care, and that there was no need to retract or discount the study's findings. The single-dose drug has become the standard of care for PMTCT in Uganda and much of Africa.