November 17, 1995. Copyright, 1995, Graphic News. All rights reserved

NEW HOPE IN THE FIGHT AGAINST AIDS
By Nicholas Booth, Science Editor

LONDON, November 17, Graphic News- Researchers in the United States have developed a drug which fights the monkey-equivalent of the HIV virus more effectively than ever before. Known as PMPA, it works by throwing an effective spanner in the workings of the way in which the simian immunodeficiency virus replicates and spreads. A team of scientists, led by Che-Chung Tsai of the University of WashingtonÕs Regional Primate Research Center, present the first evidence for complete protection against the virus in the latest issue of Science, the leading U.S. research journal.

Tests on 25 macaque monkeys Ð widely regarded as the nearest equivalent to humans in AIDS research Ð showed complete protection and no side effects when injected with the drug. Significantly, it works both to prevent monkeys from contracting the virus and also by boosting the immune response of monkeys already infected with the disease. And while this is a first test involving animals Ð so that it may be many years before drugs are available to humans Ð the results are seen as very encouraging. ÔThis study is a significant step forward,Õ says Dr. Roberta Black, one of the researchers, Ôalthough further research is necessary to determine PMPAÕs potential for human use.Õ

There are an estimated 20 million people around the world who are currently infected by the HIV virus, about 90 per cent of whom live in Africa. It is estimated that by the year 2000 between 30 to 40 million people will be HIV positive. The virus is difficult to treat because it is one of the fastest mutating known to man and is often ÔhiddenÕ within the structure of human cells. Once HIV is carried by the body it can mutate into different forms and it may also take many years before fully blown AIDS develops. There are so many different strains of the virus that even if a vaccine for one strain were developed, it would be useless against another. 
Further studies of how PMPA works in stopping the simian equivalent of HIV will help in understanding the processes that lead to its development. The team will see if the drug can inhibit infection with newborn babies, as it is believed that up to 80 per cent of transmission of HIV virus in babies occurs during the process of birth.

Sources: Science, University of Washington, U.S. National Institutes Of Health