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Human Trials started for new anti-HIV drug Chinese scientists are testing a chemical compound that can be effective against both HIV and Hepatitis B virus. Extracted from a Chinese herb called Inula britannic, the compound, 1,5-di-O-caffeoylquinic acid (1,5-DCQA), has proved to be able to work on HIV and HBV (hepatitis B virus) in a way different from current medicines. This was mentioned by Dong Junxing, a leading scientist with the Academy of Military Medical Sciences. This new compound has few side effects even in large doses. Preliminary experiments on animals show that suspending, or stopping, the use of the compound during treatment does not lead to deterioration of the disease, which will be a big advance from current anti-HBV and HIV/AIDS medicines. In the experiment with monkeys, on stopping medication after weeks, it was found that while most monkeys in the group treated by the cocktail therapy appeared to deteriorate, the other group taking the new compound showed better results. The research team has begun a six-month clinical research on about 200 healthy volunteers. If it goes smoothly, a new medicine is expected to be in the market in two years. The price of the new drug may be much lower than any other now available, because it can be synthesized chemically instead of extracting it from herbs. - China Daily |
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