An ‘explosion of discovery’ is opening new avenues for treating HIV/AIDS
Chicago — Dr Anthony Fauci does not get too excited about the results of animal studies, and he does not make house calls. But when a drug already taken by thousands of people for intestinal conditions appeared to control the monkey version of HIV, it got the attention of the director of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Fauci hopped on a plane to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to personally tell Japan’s Takeda Pharmaceutical Company’s US representatives that their drug may offer a dramatic advance in the fight against AIDS. Takeda’s drug suppressed the virus to undetectable levels in eight monkeys, some for two years. The findings raise hopes for a so-called "functional cure" — a treatment that puts the disease in sustained remission. "The data was so dramatic," said Fauci, who has made AIDS research his life’s work. The drug is one of several promising ideas heading into early-stage human trials, all seeking to help patients control the virus that causes AIDS ...
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