To the HEPH shorts:
I pulled this off the Yahoo boards>
Cape Times; 11 March 1999
BY JUDITH SOAL, Health Writer
IF you think a cure for Aids is imminent you are wrong, South Africa's top HIV doctors and researchers said yesterday.
They were responding to an announcement by the Medical University of South Africa (Medunsa) on the results of the first phase of a clinical trial of a new anti-Aids drug, known as Inactivin.
Wimpie du Plooy, a virology professor at Medunsa, told reporters yesterday that his team "may have found a cure for Aids", which could be available before the end of the year. The announcement raised a collective groan from HIV researchers.
"It is inappropriate and irresponsible to go public on the basis of a phase one trial," said Robin Wood, head of the Aids clinic at Somerset Hospital. "Many drugs look promising in the early stages but never become available because there is so much that can go wrong."
Wood said his unit was conducting similar trials on other drugs with very favourable early results, but that it was unethical to raise hopes prematurely.
Du Plooy and his team tested the drug in two "small" (he would not be specific) groups of volunteers and found that the number of viruses in their blood dropped dramatically after five days of treatment.
"Only one trial patient showed signs of a living virus in his blood."
Ashraf Grimwood, a city doctor who has worked extensively with patients with HIV, said these results were not unusual.
"There are many drugs that will show a reduction in the virus in five to 10 days. The problem is what happens after that," he said.
"We all know that the virus soon becomes resistant to treatment if you use a single drug and that this drug-resistant HIV can be passed on. Until people are treated for longer, we will not know what the long-term effects are."
Yesterday's reports of a "miracle cure" brought on an uncomfortable sense of dj vu for many South Africans.
"I'm concerned there is a bit of a Virodene scenario here," said James McIntyre of Chris Hani Baragwanath's HIV research unit. "It is a promising compound but you can only start measuring the effectiveness of the drug in the next phases."
Virodene is the "miracle" anti-Aids drug punted two years ago, which has been found to be unsafe.
The difference between Virodene and Inactivin is that Medunsa received permission to go ahead with the trials from the Medicines Control Council (MCC). But the MCC has also greeted the results with caution.
"Phase one trials are about a quarter of the way in the research process," a spokesperson said. "It usually takes about seven years of testing to meet all the safety requirements."
Grimwood stressed the problems that such announcements caused for credible researchers. "People are really desperate for a cure, so when we criticise the results we are seen to be obstructing possible treatments.
"But it is cruel to tell people there is an imminent cure when that just isn't true." he said. "Tomorrow I will have people asking for this drug, and I will have to send them away."
All the Best
Druss
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