Professor examines HIV drug therapy

Dr. Jim Scott, a professor in the College of Pharmacy, isn’t looking

for awards or fame when it comes to his HIV/AIDS research.

“”I just want to contribute to the knowledge of the treatment of HIV,

while still teaching students, residents, and fellows, what is new in

HIV, how to do research, and how to help people with this disease,”” says

Dr. Scott, who has been conducting clinical work at WesternU since 2000.

His latest study, for which he received a $200,000 grant, will

examine drug therapy for patients with HIV.

This study is being performed to assess the drug interaction, if

any, between a Protease Inhibitor (PI) called atazanavir, and a

Nucleoside-analogue Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors (NRTI) called

nevirapine. For safety reasons, we will need to use subjects who have

HIV infection, and are on one of these two agents.

HIV/AIDS has been an interest of Dr. Scott’s since pharmacy school

and with so much work needed in the area, he won’t be bored anytime soon.

“”HIV is a complicated field,”” he says. “”There are many different

aspects to treating HIV that need to be considered. I try to get

involved in a variety of different research projects, so that I can help

in many different ways.””

Dr. Scott hopes that through this newest project, researchers will

gain an understanding of whether or not these two medications can be used

together and if so, how they should be dosed. “”In general, I hope that

my research helps people infected with HIV do well and stay healthy.””