More bad news for the AIDS profiteers at AHF.
For more than three decades, scientists have tried unsuccessfully to develop an effective vaccine for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. But now researchers say they have created an experimental drug that may function as a sort of “alternative” vaccine for the virus.
The experimental drug, a protein known as eCD4-IG, blocks infection by keeping the virus from binding to the immune cells that are the virus’s target. In tests on monkeys, the drug “candidate” proved to be extremely effective at blocking infection–even with the most virulent strains of HIV and its simian counterpart, SIV.
“Our compound is the broadest and most potent entry inhibitor described so far,” Dr. Michael Farzan, a professor at the Scripps Research Institute in Jupiter, Fla. and the leader of the research effort, said in a written statement. “Unlike antibodies, which fail to neutralize a large fraction of HIV-1 strains, our protein has been effective against all strains tested.”
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