ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, August 25, 1996 TAG: 9608260002
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-7 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NORFOLK
SOURCE: Associated Press
EASTERN VIRGINIA MEDICAL SCHOOL is one of 50 sites at which HIV patients receive medication they hope will strengthen their resistance to AIDS.
In 12 years of treating HIV patients, Dr. Alan Wilson has gone from making them as comfortable as possible - knowing they will soon die - to using drugs to prolong their lives.
Now, Wilson is helping to test a treatment that researchers hope will stop the human immunodeficiency virus from progressing to AIDS.
Wilson is an assistant professor of internal medicine at Eastern Virginia Medical School, one of 50 sites nationwide conducting clinical trials of Remune. Wilson is leading his school's trial.
Remune, developed by polio vaccine inventor Dr. Jonas Salk, is designed to stimulate the immune system to keep HIV under control.
``It's not expected to be a cure,'' Wilson said. But in the best-case scenario, HIV patients who take Remune would not develop AIDS.
Previous clinical trials have shown Remune to be safe, and have displayed evidence that it boosts the immune system, said Dr. Steve Schnittman, an AIDS researcher at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
But, there is skepticism about whether Remune will significantly deter the progression of AIDS, Schnittman said. Similar immunotherapy vaccines have failed, he said.
Remune is made from HIV viruses that have been rendered inactive with radiation and had a protein removed.
Animals combat viruses by forming antibodies. The theory behind Remune is that the altered virus will cause humans to create antibodies better able to destroy, or at least neutralize, the virus.
Remune differs from more traditional therapies by relying on the body's immune system to do the work, Wilson said.
``When you give a traditional drug, or a traditional therapy, you are expecting that chemical to do most of the work,'' he said. ``With Remune, what you're trying to do is stimulate the immune system.''
The trials involve relatively healthy patients infected with HIV who have not developed the serious symptoms of AIDS, an affliction in which the body's crippled immune system gives rise to cancers or serious infections.
EVMS plans to eventually enroll 50 patients in the study, 35 of whom will begin treatments by the end of August.
Remune maker Immune Response Corp., which is funding the study, periodically will give EVMS and the other U.S. testing sites feedback on the patients' conditions, Wilson said.
Patients receive no money for participating, but all their checkups and lab tests are free, Wilson said. If a patient develops AIDS, he or she will be dropped from the study but will be given the option to continue receiving therapy.
IRC told the Food and Drug Administration last year that, in small studies, the therapy helped some patients retain vital immune cells. The government's panel of AIDS experts said the studies probably produced exaggerated results but told the FDA to allow broader testing to settle the issue.
Even if Remune works, Wilson said, there still may be HIV patients with weakened immune systems who don't respond well. ``We still need a safe vaccine to prevent people from getting HIV,'' he said.
There were 74,180 new cases of AIDS reported in the United States in 1995, according to the most recent figures available from the National Conference of State Legislatures. That was down from 79,897 in 1994, said Lisa Speissegger, an NCSL public health analyst.
In Virginia, 1,610 new AIDS case were reported in 1995, up from 1,155 in 1994, Speissegger said.
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