[e-med] (2)A propos du V-Immunitor

[remed@remed.org]

E-MED:(2)A propos du V-Immunitor
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Nous avons aucune information à ReMeD sur ce produit qui pourrait confirmer
ou infirmer les informations qui étaient reprises dans le communiqué de
presse; on aurait pu croire d'ailleurs à de la publicité déguisée pour ce
produit, reprise par le journaliste, ce qui arrive souvent avec les nouveaux
produits commercialisés. Gardons l'oeil critique, avec cet article, on ne
peut rien conclure sur l'intérêt de ce produit.
De plus, j'ai trouvé le texte ci-dessous  publié par le forum de discussion
Procaare qui indique que ce produit une association de calcium et de
magnesium été enregistré comme complément alimentaire par la FDA
Thaïlandaise...

Carinne Bruneton
co-modérateur de e-med

[procaare] HCC:Conference coverage - 27



      Subject: [procaare] HCC:Conference coverage - 27
      From: Key Correspondent/Rapporteur Team <correspondents@hdnet.org>
      Date: Wed, 9 Jan 2002 04:19:45 -0500 (EST)


 HCC: Conference coverage - 27
 - HDN Key Correspondents/Rapporteur Team,Thailand
 *************************************

 In search of healing... some take shortcuts towards an elusive cure

 The search for a cure for HIV/AIDS is seeing one of the largest medical
efforts ever seen by mankind. Among effective remedies, however, are many
false claims.

 At present there are 40 million HIV-infected people in the world, by 2004
that figure will be 100 million as AIDS leapfrogs past a world jammed with
conferences, scientists, claimed remedies and vaccine research. AIDS is not
heeding declarations, pious promises or resentful protests. It is crushing
health budgets, and harming economies as funerals and desperation increase.
And with this comes the knowledge that a cure could earn its makers
billions. Until that can be found, palliative care rules. And because
pharmaceutical remedies are so expensive, there has been a revolution in the
manufacturing of generic drugs in Brazil, Thailand and soon, in parts of
Africa.

 High costs and a lack of treatment also fuel rumour and myth, sometimes
with devastating consequences; in southern Africa, parts of the Caribbean
and India, virgin rapes are escalating based on a mistaken belief that sex
with a virgin cleanses an infected person of HIV/AIDS. Traditional healers,
long shunned by the established medical fraternity have shown they can
produce important alternative, or complementary remedies to western
pharmaceuticals.

 In southern Africa, for example, the sour fig, a succulent that grows wild
on dunes and  rocky outcrops, is an excellent remedy for thrush. South
Africa's Medical Research Council (MRC) has joined forces with traditional
healers to investigate the pharmacological properties of some traditional
remedies to find safe dosage and treatment applications for these old
remedies. They have also devised ways to protect the patent rights of these
healers.

 In addition, the MRC has used traditional healers, as well as farm workers
and sex  workers to conduct research and to help administer medicines, in
particular Directly Observed Therapy Shortcourse (DOTS) for tuberculosis,
with considerable success.

 Uganda's Seya Nursing Home in Kampala, has, since 1993, built on and
utilized traditional  herbal remedies to treat some of the opportunistic
infections of HIV/AIDS and malaria  (which is still the biggest killer of
people in Africa). In Thailand, yoga, Buddhist  meditation, Tok sen massage
and reflexology are important components of home-based care  to release
stress and introduce a sense of spiritual and physical well being.
 Traditional healers also administer herbal remedies to assist in
AIDS-related illness  treatment; the Pren kow leaf, for example, is
considered a good anti-fungal remedy and  the Makorin leaf when boiled and
the liquid rubbed on the skin helps against rashes and  scabies. Hot
compresses made with a combination of herbs are placed into muslin bags to
rid muscle pains. Herbs in the compresses include lime skin, sompoid leaf,
ply root, nad  leaf and phoo leaf among others.

 However, controversy has been created in some countries of high HIV
infection by  so-called remedies that have not undergone independent
clinical or safety trials being  sold or given free to HIV-infected people.
This raises hopes falsely, and in some  countries has caused deaths.

 About two years ago, in South Africa, the cabinet and President personally
approved a  drug made from an industrial solvent called Virodene - despite
the fact that it's own  Medical Research Council had refused to register the
drug because they considered it  unsafe. Reports from South Africa and
Portugal where the makers used the drug showed  deaths resulting from its
use. South Africa was embroiled in controversy again recently,  when it was
revealed that stocks of yet another drug made from a petroleum base and
approved by its Mineral and Energy Affairs department had been smuggled into
Tanzania and  was illegally being given to HIV-infected Tanzanian soldiers.
The drug has received no  approval from South African or Tanzanian medical
authorities, which are both concerned  about its safety and efficacy. Both
Virodene and this new compound are banned in South  Africa by the medical
authorities.

 In Thailand, controversy has been caused in recent times by a drug called
V1 Immunitor,  which has undergone no independent clinical trials but is
being touted as a wonder remedy  or "oral vaccine". The compound is a
mixture of calcium, magnesium and a so-called  "crystal carrier" according
to reports in the Bangkok Post quoting its originator, Thai  pharmacist
Vichai Jirathitikal. The government has ordered the manufacturers to stop
claiming it can cure AIDS. The Thai Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has
registered V1  as a food supplement and has given authority for clinical
trials to take place. However, although these have not yet taken place the
makers have distributed massive amounts of  the pink pills in unmonitored
handouts. The makers have tested the product on rats and  mice, but clinical
trials done on other AIDS medications all over the world have shown  results
on rodents are not necessarily the same for humans. Supporters of V1
Immunitor  and discredited Virodene in South Africa have remarkably similar
reasons for the failure  of their drugs to be accepted. Both claim the drugs
as miraculous (even though Virodene  has been shown to cause death in
instances). Both say that those who criticize their  compounds are backed by
Western pharmaceutical interests. Both claim that those who demand greater
care and safety procedures to be undertaken before the distribution of
medicines, think that what is Western is good while that which is
African/Thai is  inferior. This is despite the fact that Thailand has become
one of the most significant  sites in the world for the successful
production of generic drugs for HIV treatment - a  step that essentially
undermines the power of Western pharmaceutical giants.

 The Thai Department of Communicable Disease interviewed in June this year,
after learning  that patients were told, by the makers of V1 Immunitor, to
stop using established drugs.
 The ministry, the Bangkok Post reported, said stopping the use of
established, tested  drugs would do more harm than good and patients should
not be misled about V-I Immunitor  until there was scientific proof.

 A booklet describing V-I Immunitor was distributed to participants of the
conference  yesterday by its supporters. The booklet still says: "we do not
advise to combine V1 with  other AIDS drugs since we do not know what kind
of effect it will cause to your body."

 Professor Praphan Phanupak, Director of the AIDS Research Centre at the
Thailand Red  Cross Society told Care Conference News yesterday that "the
Ministry of Health of  Thailand has set up several committees to study the
clinical efficacy of V1 Immunitor. As  of present, no clinical efficacy has
been established. If future studies show that the  product is efficacious,
the Ministry of Public Health will authorise and promote its  wider
utilization."

 The medical community remains united that patient safety is paramount.
Ethical clinical trials into all compounds whether pharmaceutical,
traditional or new have to be carried out to ensure that side-effects, and
efficacy live up to their maker's claims, and that human lives are saved,
not lost.

 HDN Key Correspondent Team
 Rapporteur Team
 E-mail: correspondents@hdnet.org

 *************************************

 The Insight Initiative Project is managed by Health & Development Networks
(HDN) in
 collaboration with the Thailand Red Cross Society, the World Health
Organization and the
 Royal Thailand Government, with financial support from AusAid and UNAIDS.

 For more information about this project (the 'Insight Initiative'), visit
the HDN website
 at: http://www.hdnet.org

 Fifth International Conference on Home and Community Care for Persons
Living with
 HIV/AIDS Chiang Mai, Thailand - 17-20 December 2001 Website:
http://www.hiv2001.com

 *************************************

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