everything's interconnected today
Jul. 19th, 2005 03:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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lameautarch
Japan develops drug that shuts out HIV from cells
A durable new drug that blocks HIV from entering human cells and causes almost no side effects has been developed by a team of researchers at Japan's Kumamoto University.
The new drug, code named AK602, was reported by the research team's leader, Hiroaki Mitsuya, at the International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific in Kobe on Tuesday.
The drug's main feature is that it shuts out the AIDS virus at the point when it tries to intrude into a human cell.
Current AIDS medicines often lose their effectiveness in a few days because the virus changes and develops a resistance to those drugs.
But the AK602 is different because it reacts to human cells instead of attacking the virus, said Mitsuya, a university professor.
He said the drug sticks to a protein called CCR5 that acts as an entrance into human cells for the AIDS virus. When the new drug becomes attached to the protein, it can prevent HIV from entering, and thus stop the virus from spreading.
The researchers conducted clinical tests on 40 AIDS patients in the United States.
When the patients took 600 milligrams of AK602 twice a day for 10 days, the number of HIV viruses dropped to about 1 percent on average.
One patient's amount plummeted to about 0.17 percent, they said.
Almost no side effects were reported, according to the team.
AK602 does not cover the entire CCR5 protein, they said. It only shuts the specific area where HIV can enter, leaving open the sections necessary for operations, they said.
Half of the 40 patients tested had taken other anti-AIDS drugs before. But those medicines were no longer effective because the virus had already developed resistance.
Yet the AK602 proved effective against even those stronger viruses, the team said.
lameautarchJapan develops drug that shuts out HIV from cells
A durable new drug that blocks HIV from entering human cells and causes almost no side effects has been developed by a team of researchers at Japan's Kumamoto University.
The new drug, code named AK602, was reported by the research team's leader, Hiroaki Mitsuya, at the International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific in Kobe on Tuesday.
The drug's main feature is that it shuts out the AIDS virus at the point when it tries to intrude into a human cell.
Current AIDS medicines often lose their effectiveness in a few days because the virus changes and develops a resistance to those drugs.
But the AK602 is different because it reacts to human cells instead of attacking the virus, said Mitsuya, a university professor.
He said the drug sticks to a protein called CCR5 that acts as an entrance into human cells for the AIDS virus. When the new drug becomes attached to the protein, it can prevent HIV from entering, and thus stop the virus from spreading.
The researchers conducted clinical tests on 40 AIDS patients in the United States.
When the patients took 600 milligrams of AK602 twice a day for 10 days, the number of HIV viruses dropped to about 1 percent on average.
One patient's amount plummeted to about 0.17 percent, they said.
Almost no side effects were reported, according to the team.
AK602 does not cover the entire CCR5 protein, they said. It only shuts the specific area where HIV can enter, leaving open the sections necessary for operations, they said.
Half of the 40 patients tested had taken other anti-AIDS drugs before. But those medicines were no longer effective because the virus had already developed resistance.
Yet the AK602 proved effective against even those stronger viruses, the team said.
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(no subject)
Date: 2005-07-19 08:55 pm (UTC)this is going to be one expensive treatment...and a loooong time course too I bet. aaand the Family Resaerch Council is gonna stick its hand up the FDA's butt again and try to block it in this country, because, ya know, we shouldn't interfere with god punishing people for fucking.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-07-19 09:08 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-07-19 09:50 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-07-19 10:59 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-07-19 11:05 pm (UTC)