XYNaPSE
05-15-2007, 12:57 PM
Could this be the beginning of the end for HIV? I believe it is.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a.0x1mlV37Qw&refer=home
Top U.S. Scientist to Use New AIDS Drugs Seeking Cure (Update2)
By John Lauerman
May 15 (Bloomberg) -- AIDS may be cured in a select group of patients who now have extremely low levels of virus in their bodies by aggressively dosing them for a year with new HIV drugs from Roche Holding AG and Merck & Co., according to the top U.S. infectious disease scientist.
Research released yesterday suggested that 7.7 years of combination therapy might cut HIV to very low levels in those treated early and faithfully. The next step is to see if aggressive treatment with new drugs for a year will cure the disease, said Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Patients are already being lined up for the new study. If doctors get the virus to levels where it seems to disappear, they'll stop treatment, Fauci said in a telephone interview yesterday. Patients will then be monitored so therapy can quickly resume if the virus reappears, he said.
``The first step is to see how far we can push the envelope,'' said Fauci, who co-authored the study published yesterday in the Journal of Infectious Disease. ``We now have a scientific basis to feel that it's at least worth pursuing it in some select patients.''
The shares of Merck, based in New York, rose 42 cents to $52.50 at 10:49 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading, while Roche's shares rose $2.10 to $228.90.
HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus which causes AIDS, infects about 40 million people worldwide, and 1 million in the U.S. The virus mutates constantly to elude the body's defenses as well as drugs, such as Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.'s Sustiva. It can also hide in immune cells, called resting T-cells, where it is relatively safe from treatments.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a.0x1mlV37Qw&refer=home
Top U.S. Scientist to Use New AIDS Drugs Seeking Cure (Update2)
By John Lauerman
May 15 (Bloomberg) -- AIDS may be cured in a select group of patients who now have extremely low levels of virus in their bodies by aggressively dosing them for a year with new HIV drugs from Roche Holding AG and Merck & Co., according to the top U.S. infectious disease scientist.
Research released yesterday suggested that 7.7 years of combination therapy might cut HIV to very low levels in those treated early and faithfully. The next step is to see if aggressive treatment with new drugs for a year will cure the disease, said Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Patients are already being lined up for the new study. If doctors get the virus to levels where it seems to disappear, they'll stop treatment, Fauci said in a telephone interview yesterday. Patients will then be monitored so therapy can quickly resume if the virus reappears, he said.
``The first step is to see how far we can push the envelope,'' said Fauci, who co-authored the study published yesterday in the Journal of Infectious Disease. ``We now have a scientific basis to feel that it's at least worth pursuing it in some select patients.''
The shares of Merck, based in New York, rose 42 cents to $52.50 at 10:49 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading, while Roche's shares rose $2.10 to $228.90.
HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus which causes AIDS, infects about 40 million people worldwide, and 1 million in the U.S. The virus mutates constantly to elude the body's defenses as well as drugs, such as Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.'s Sustiva. It can also hide in immune cells, called resting T-cells, where it is relatively safe from treatments.