Drug Taken from Rainforest Used to Treat Aids-Related Diarrhea
7/12/98
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Title: Drug Taken from Rainforest Used to Treat Aids-Related Diarrhea
Source: The Los Angeles Times
Status: Copyrighted, contact source to reprint
Date: 7/l2/98
Byline: Thomas H. Maugh II
A drug isolated from the rain forests of South America is effective in treating
the
diarrhea that accompanies clinical AIDS and the treatment of HIV infections with
drugs.
The condition affects as many as 40% of AIDS patients, and it interferes with
treatment
because it lowers the body's ability to absorb medicine and nutrition. Yet it
receives
little attention, says Dr. Mark Holodniy of the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto
Health Care
System, because the subject is unpleasant.
Holodniy and colleagues at UC San Francisco treated 26 AIDS victims with the
drug, called
Provir, and 25 with a placebo. He reported at the 12th World AIDS Conference in
Geneva
that those treated with the drug had significantly fewer diarrhea episodes.
Based on
those results, the drug, made by Shaman Pharmaceuticals of South San Francisco,
is
entering phase 2 trials at 20 medical centers.
Copyright Los Angeles Times