X-Message-Number: 7555
Date: Fri, 24 Jan 1997 18:01:29 MST
From: "Richard Schroeppel" <>
Subject: Another Visser Triumph!

(from nando.net)

S. AFRICA HALTS HUMAN TRIALS OF PURPORTED AIDS DRUG
  Copyright 1997 Nando.net and The Associated Press
   
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (Jan 24, 1997 3:24 p.m. EST) -- Three
scientists who stunned medical experts this week by announcing
development of a drug that kills the AIDS virus were ordered Friday to
halt testing on humans until their work has been evaluated.

The Medicines Control Council, a government panel that registers
drugs, said human testing would be stopped until it can review
research on the drug, called Virodene P058. The council set a Feb. 5
deadline for its review.

Researchers from the University of Pretoria announced development of
Virodene on Wednesday when they went before South Africa's Cabinet to
ask for $800,000 to continue their work.

They said they had tested the drug on about a dozen people who were
infected with HIV or had full-blown AIDS -- and claimed that it had
reversed the effects of AIDS in at least one person.

Scientists and AIDS groups reacted with shock and skepticism. They
denounced the trio for not following standard research practices, such
as subjecting their work to peer review, and also for conducting human
trials apparently without approval.

Under standard procedures, the researchers should have had permission
from either the medicines council or the university's ethics committee
before experimenting on humans. Neither group has acknowledged giving
its permission, although no one has directly accused the scientists of
malpractice or unethical behavior.

The council's statement announcing the suspension of testing on Friday
did not make any specific accusations against the three: researcher
Olga Visser and cardiothoracic surgeons Dirk du Plessis and Callie
Landauer.

The three are hardly known in the AIDS research community, although
Visser and du Plessis made news in 1995 for successfully restarting a
rat's heart after it had been frozen. It was considered a breakthrough
in frozen tissue research, a field know as cryo-preservancy.

Visser said she discovered the anti-viral properties of Virodene while
conducting cryo-preservancy experiments.

The Institute of Virology, a state- and privately funded agency that
studies viruses, expressed doubt Friday that Virodene reverses AIDS.

"I would say this is just one of the many so-called cures that various
people come up with every now and again," institute chief Barry Schoub
said. "It should certainly not have been tested on patients."

The Medical Research Council, a state-funded agency that supports
university research, also has called for scientific evaluation of the
claims before the government approves further research money for
Virodene.

Dr. Walter Prozesky, head of the research council, said it was
surprising the results were not published even as a preliminary report
in a medical or scientific journal, or presented at international AIDS
conferences held in Canada last summer or in Washington this week.

The University of Pretoria said Thursday that it supported the team's
research, but would investigate why it deviated from established
practices. It did not explain what deviations occurred.


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