2008 Woodie Awards
Video related to this article is available below.Issue date: 4/4/08 Section: News
HIV cocktails - on their way out?
Researcher works on a gene-therapy treatment for HIV that could slow the disease's spread within the body
Julia Harte
But hope for a vaccine is "almost wishful thinking," Cannon said.
"Everything that nature's told us about the natural infection seems to say that we cannot make a vaccine."
She also said gene therapy has long been notoriously unpopular among medical researchers.
"Gene therapy approaches are kind of hanging off the edge of the cliff by their fingertips" because so few companies are willing to fund the research, she said.
According to Phalguni Gupta, professor of infectious diseases and microbiology at the University of Pittsburgh, few HIV researchers are pursuing gene therapy because it is difficult to alter the genes of the billions of cells affected by a virus.
Gene therapy is "difficult to do, difficult to deliver," he said. "When you put the cells in the body, the body's first reaction is to get rid of them," usually after just a few days.
But the nine patients who received June's treatment displayed what appeared to be "very promising" reactions that lasted even when the therapy was temporarily discontinued for several days.
It will likely be at least five years before June's therapy is approved by the Federal Drug Administration, assuming it proves successful in further clinical trials.
"Everything that nature's told us about the natural infection seems to say that we cannot make a vaccine."
She also said gene therapy has long been notoriously unpopular among medical researchers.
"Gene therapy approaches are kind of hanging off the edge of the cliff by their fingertips" because so few companies are willing to fund the research, she said.
According to Phalguni Gupta, professor of infectious diseases and microbiology at the University of Pittsburgh, few HIV researchers are pursuing gene therapy because it is difficult to alter the genes of the billions of cells affected by a virus.
Gene therapy is "difficult to do, difficult to deliver," he said. "When you put the cells in the body, the body's first reaction is to get rid of them," usually after just a few days.
But the nine patients who received June's treatment displayed what appeared to be "very promising" reactions that lasted even when the therapy was temporarily discontinued for several days.
It will likely be at least five years before June's therapy is approved by the Federal Drug Administration, assuming it proves successful in further clinical trials.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Chris Conlon
posted 4/04/08 @ 5:47 AM EST
Research into HIV medicine is progressing very rapidly and it will be interesting to see if this research leads anywhere.
But it's important not to under-estimate the efficacy and tolerability of currently available anti-HIV treatment. (Continued…)
Gregory P. Dupont
posted 4/04/08 @ 2:45 PM EST
This is almoat like the evolution of the virus that William Gibson speculated on in "Virtual Light".i.e;the virus replacing itself with a non-lethal version in th einterest of self-preservation(can't kill the entire host population and continue"
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