Another week, another dose. Today there’s new ammo in the wars on HIV, tobacco, and conflict of interest. Also, there’s talk of being “overwhelmed with work,” but it’s not about you.

— South African president Jacob Zuma revealed that he is HIV-negative, according to his most recent testing. A few years ago, Zuma admitted to unprotected sex with an HIV-positive woman, but said he took a shower afterward to prevent transmission. Now, the president is looking to reduce the stigma over testing as part of a rapidly growing anti-HIV effort in South Africa. (NYTimes)

— The European Medicines Agency’s two main drug approval committees are “overwhelmed with work,” according to an analysis by Ernst & Young. While generally positive, the report recommends creating committees focused on referrals and generics to lighten the workload of the committees for human and veterinary medicinal products. (PharmaTimes)

— Researchers in two studies each claim they’ve found two new gene variants (four total) that increase the number of cigarettes a smoker has per day (BBC). Even if some smokers are predisposed to the habit, preliminary results from a phase 3 trial of the NicVax nicotine vaccine show that it is effective in promoting smoking cessation; 16% of those on the vaccine were able to stop entirely, compared to just 6% on placebo. (CNN)

— The president of the Medical Council of India (MCI) was arrested last week for alleged bribery. The country’s Central Bureau for Investigation says that Ketan Desai and two others asked for 20 million rupees ($450,000) to recognize a medical college in Punjab (Times of India). Earlier this year, Desai spoke with Nature Medicine about new MCI rules meant to curb conflicts of interest among doctors.

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