Can A New HIV Drug Kill The Virus That Causes AIDS? (scmp.com) 73
"A team led by scientists from the University of Hong Kong has developed a new antibody drug that will not only protect people from contracting HIV but also serve as a long-acting treatment for the virus, unlike current medication that must be taken daily." Slashdot reader hackingbear shared this article from the South China Morning Post:
There will need to be a further battery of tests before the drug, named "BiIA-SG", can be part of the global battle against the virus, which causes Aids. The research team has so far only tested the drug on mice but is now looking to experiment on larger animals such as monkeys, before conducting clinical trials on humans. Still, Professor Chen Zhiwei, the team leader and director of HKU's Aids Institute, stressed the scientific discovery had yielded "one of the most potent and effective antibody drugs". This is because the study showed that mice given the drug before being infected with HIV were protected from the virus for about a week.
In addition, the experiments, which also involved experts from mainland medical and research institutions, found that when mice were infected with HIV before being treated, 42 per cent had an "undetectable level" of the virus for at least four weeks after one injection of antibodies... The tests found that the drug was effective against 124 strains of HIV, including those that are commonly found in infected people from Hong Kong and mainland China.
In addition, the experiments, which also involved experts from mainland medical and research institutions, found that when mice were infected with HIV before being treated, 42 per cent had an "undetectable level" of the virus for at least four weeks after one injection of antibodies... The tests found that the drug was effective against 124 strains of HIV, including those that are commonly found in infected people from Hong Kong and mainland China.
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stop fucking men up the ass.
But then conservative Republican politicians would have to go back to their wives!
And we can't have that.
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Most people with AIDS doesn't fuck men in the ass.
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Gay and bisexual men account for 70% of infections
That's in the US. The US makes up about 3% of the world's HIV cases.
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Oh. I thought we were talking about the world. You know, with the development of the drug _not_ being done in the US, most humans _not_ living in the US, most HIV/AIDS patients _not_ being in the US. ...
Re: Approaching a Trillion Dollars Spent... (Score:2)
Have you at least HEARD of Africa? It seems like we need to start there...
No (Score:3)
If you have to ask, the answer is always No.
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Better than those wild claims of anonymous shit posters.
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It shows that it prevents infection which is different than killing an existing infection.
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Talk to me again in a year from now and I can guarantee that nothing has changed and this will not work as a viable treatment. There is no silver bullet for AIDS or cancer for that matter.
Science, anyone? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Science, anyone? (Score:5, Insightful)
Not only that, but wait until they claim to have results on more than just mice.
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5) We can see that with you.
was an insightful post until you resorted to needless rudeness
Not ‘needless’ at all because GP’s list contains an item that had already happened.
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3) Since arguably HIV doesn't have anything to do with AIDS...
Which nut-case website should I have been reading to learn the "truth", here, or is this just the standard "thing you always thought was true, isn't, and then it is, then it isn't again"?
Re:Top 5 Geek Fantasies that will Never Happen (Score:5, Insightful)
Even if this drug doesn't work in humans, HIV will eventually be eradicated with currently existing medicine. Once the medicine that HIV patients take becomes cheap enough to deploy around the world, by keeping their viral load levels to an undetectable level, they will no longer transmit the virus to other people even if they are having unprotected sex. If everyone in the world with HIV is medicated, they won't spread it to anybody and eventually the last remaining carriers of the virus will die from natural causes. Long-acting injections in the form of depo shots are already available for patients with poor drug compliance issues, too.
Unfortunately, due to corporate greed a lot of these medications still cost over $1000 per month and the day where everyone regardless of income or background gets access to HIV medication is probably hundreds of years away, unless something fundamentally changes on a global scale with regards to patents on life saving drugs. I worry that humanity's going to fuck itself over with disease the longer we allow intellectual property law to prevent life saving generics from being created and distributed. This is why drug patents and research paywalls need to be violated and broken at any cost for the greater good of human health.
Re:Top 5 Geek Fantasies that will Never Happen (Score:4, Insightful)
How ugly that it seems to pay to NOT cure something. Jonas Salk wasn't the greed-filled developer of his vaccine. He didn't develop it to reward stockholders. He did it to save lives and the fates of those infected with polio, a common disease of a couple generations ago.
So far, we don't know about the business model that might result, or even if the drug is effective and safe over the long term. So far, Truvada seems to be the best prophylactic out there, outside of abstinence. Abstinence is never going to work. The drug's vendor, Gilead, by keeping their prices at $1500+ a month for Truvada, has the blood on their hands of those that can't afford it, and get infected, and can't control it, and die hideous deaths.
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Just give it a few hundred years and someone will find a way to spread it from chimpanzees to humans again.
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1) Either physically impossible or theoretically possible but actually impossible. With our current knowledge that is.
2) ?
3) Nothing makes that impossible.
4) Nothing makes that impossible. Many types of cancer have >90% survivability with near 100% survivability when detected in early stages.
5) Genetically inferior?
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Because sex vacations are the leading cause of infection? Really...
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I was under the impression you can't catch it from being peed on, but as I demonstrated above, I - apparently - don't know anything about HIV.
Profitable? (Score:1)
Goldman-Sachs said it was more profitable to treat rather than cure so I think this will cost at least $10,000 a week because some life saving or life extending drugs are costing $500,000 a year!
That didn't take long (Score:3, Insightful)
So it looks like another of those scourges evangelicals claimed was a "curse from God" is about to bite the dust.
A cynic might suggest that the old Hairy Thunderer is losing his touch. Or maybe God just doesn't give a rat's ass who you sleep with.
Re: That didn't take long (Score:1, Troll)
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Not a theological scholar, but my understanding is that Allah is technically, the same God as the one found in the old Testament of the Jews and New Testament of the Christian faith. Ergo, he did condemn Allah.
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Not a theological scholar, but my understanding is that Allah is technically, the same God as the one found in the old Testament of the Jews and New Testament of the Christian faith. Ergo, he did condemn Allah.
Hi, there. I agree with the sentiment. Still, there are reasons the technical similarity is superficial. Apologies for the long post this late at night.
Both religions agree that there is a single god. However, at best, Allah and the religion around him represents a fork of the Abrahamic god. Saying both are the same is inaccurate similar to how certain words are hijacked beyond the original intent: "hacker" does not accurately reflect the context of "cracker".
Not being a Muslim, finding this article for my
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What an odd thing to say. Why would it matter what you call your imaginary buddy?
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How can I hate something that doesn't exist? Please try not to be silly.
And for that matter, your failure even to make the basic distinction between a religion and the most fanatical of its practitioners identify you as a fool, a fanatic, or a troll. I have little time for any of those.
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Nope, the half time of anti-virals makes anti-biotics look good. Especially nowadays with all the AIDS victims filling their veins with it. Unfortunately they are just as good at making non STD viral diseases immune to these drugs.
We are coming up to a whole new age of puritanism, simply because of all the untreatable STDs.