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Promising Vaccine Candidate Could Lead To a Definitive Cure For HIV

Zothecula writes "A very promising vaccine candidate for HIV/AIDS has shown the ability to completely clear the simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), a very aggressive form of HIV that leads to AIDS in monkeys. Developed at the Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute at the Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU), the vaccine proved successful in about fifty percent of the subjects tested and could lead to a human vaccine preventing the onset of HIV/AIDS and even cure patients currently on anti-retroviral drugs."

185 comments

  1. Unprotected sex? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Hell yeah!

    1. Re:Unprotected sex? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      There's other STDs too, yanno. Might want still to whip a rubber on your cock.

    2. Re:Unprotected sex? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Nah, he'll be fine. A Kleenex is using enough when self-abusing in mommy's basement

    3. Re:Unprotected sex? by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 1

      "There's other STDs too, yanno. Might want still to whip a rubber on your cock."

      Nearly all of them easily curable.

      The people who said "The sexual revolution is over; the microbes won" were wrong. They didn't have modern medical technology.

    4. Re:Unprotected sex? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Are you nuts? Tell that to the over 30,000,000 people in the US alone with HPV. Yeah they say they have a vaccine now for it, but that's for younger kids who haven't had much, if any sex. And the herpes folks have valtrex. HPV kills people much more often than previously thought. Look at Michael Douglas. His throat cancer cells are reportedly teeming with HPV viruses from giving (presumably his wife Zeta-Jones) oral sex.

      Big bummer. The worst is when a person gets a disease because the person they're dating cheated on them. It's like being imprisoned for a crime you didn't commit.

    5. Re:Unprotected sex? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "There's other STDs too, yanno. Might want still to whip a rubber on your cock."

      Nearly all of them easily curable.

      Tell that to the person taking meds to keep his herpes from flaring up. You have a funny way of defining "cured".

      The people who said "The sexual revolution is over; the microbes won" were wrong. They didn't have modern medical technology.

      Yeah, these STDs are all so new, I mean herpes is only 2,000 years old. Yes, I'm certain a cure is right around the corner with this modern medical technology you speak of, especially with greed and corruption being extinct in the medical industry these days...

    6. Re:Unprotected sex? by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 1

      "Tell that to the person taking meds to keep his herpes from flaring up."

      You DO know what NEARLY means, right?

    7. Re:Unprotected sex? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "There's other STDs too, yanno. Might want still to whip a rubber on your cock."

      Nearly all of them easily curable.

      The people who said "The sexual revolution is over; the microbes won" were wrong. They didn't have modern medical technology.

      As soon as the HPV vaccine is a little better and widely available to both genders of all ages this will largely be true. Right now it's hard as hell to receive the vaccine if you're male and over 30, even though it will probably benefit you. You also must pay full cost.

    8. Re:Unprotected sex? by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 1

      "Are you nuts? Tell that to the over 30,000,000 people in the US alone with HPV. Yeah they say they have a vaccine now for it, but that's for younger kids who haven't had much, if any sex. "

      First, I wrote NEARLY. I didn't write "all".

      Second: [A] HPV often goes away by itself. [B] While it isn't curable (yet) it *IS* treatable. And [C] as you mentioned, vaccines are available so it will only be less of a problem in the future. That isn't an argument against my point, it is an argument for it.

      It's getting better. A cure for herpes is probably right around the corner (shingles "vaccine" being an example of a treatment for people who are already infected with a different but just as nasty form of herpes). And there are treatments for people who are currently infected (encyclovir, for example).

      And even AIDS is falling to medical technology. A number of people have been CURED.

      So yes, it's getting better. Far better than ever before.

    9. Re:Unprotected sex? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Herpes isn't fatal. If that's the only one you got with no cure and someone already has it...

  2. Keep trying. by SuricouRaven · · Score: 1

    Most of these potential vaccines turn out to be unworkable - but try long enough and hard enough, eventually scientists will hit upon a really good one.

    1. Re:Keep trying. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, they did hard try for long time. Not wearing pink glasses here, but could it be the case finally?

    2. Re:Keep trying. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The key seems to be they use modified CMV, which is itself persistent, so the body keeps generating the strong immune response to HIV rather than decreasing over time.

      If it works, it sounds like it may be promising to treat other persistent viral infections - not that I know anything about this field.

      Captcha: Despair - something you might not need to have after a HIV diagnosis if this pans out.

    3. Re:Keep trying. by somersault · · Score: 1

      This sounds like a pretty damn good one already, even if it only has a 50% success rate so far.

      --
      which is totally what she said
    4. Re:Keep trying. by jones_supa · · Score: 1

      Most of these potential vaccines turn out to be unworkable - but try long enough and hard enough, eventually scientists will hit upon a really good one.

      I agree. We've seen these headlines before on Slashdot, but they seem to be getting more and more closer to the target each time.

    5. Re:Keep trying. by SuricouRaven · · Score: 1

      On SIV. We don't know yet if it even even work on HIV, and if it can how well the virus can evolve to counter it. HIV is exceptionally adaptive, even by viral standards.

    6. Re:Keep trying. by somersault · · Score: 1

      According to TFA:

      As with most early vaccine candidates, the study revolves around SIV. SIV is much more aggressive than HIV: it replicates up to 100 times faster and when unchecked it can cause AIDS in only two years.

      To me that sounds like it should actually be easier to clear HIV than SIV.

      --
      which is totally what she said
    7. Re:Keep trying. by Threni · · Score: 0

      I'm sure they've got the next disease ready - be ready for `new cases` of a `previously unknown illness` or perhaps a single instance or two from the last 30 odd years (ie during testing).

    8. Re:Keep trying. by Amouth · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I'm just waiting for there to be an accidental release of smallpox. I know that nearly no one from my generation on has been vaccinated. A single out break of that in a major metro area and international airport would be one of the most devastating things our generation could witness.

      --
      '...if only "Jumping to a Conclusion" was an event in the Olympics.'
    9. Re:Keep trying. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe that explains the 50% effectiveness. Supposedly the virus strain is more likely to mutate while the concentration is still very high. They should maybe produce several different strains of CMV with different HIV (SIV) antigens to make the countering mutation less probable when infected with those CMVs at the same time.
      Overall looks very promising, but no guarantees that it will work in humans. Let's hope it does though.

    10. Re:Keep trying. by hedwards · · Score: 1

      Not really. One of the reasons why HIV is such a nasty bugger is that it can lay unobserved for prolonged periods of time. If you've only got 2 years, before onset of AIDS, that's going to greatly reduce the amount of spreading it does.

      It's not about how quickly you can clear it, it's about how effective the vaccine is at preventing the infection in the first place. 50% is not a particularly good number. It's a hell of a lot better than nothing, but it's nowhere near high enough to justify changing ones views on HIV.

      Assuming of course that the vaccine even works on other strains. HIV is a PITA due to the rapid response to the medications we have available.

    11. Re:Keep trying. by phantomfive · · Score: 2

      It's worth remembering that for us it wouldn't be as devastating as when smallpox was first introduced to the native american. Each of us has descended from a long line of people who were exposed to smallpox and somehow survived. Unlike the native americans, who were a population with no experience with the disease.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    12. Re:Keep trying. by Belial6 · · Score: 2

      Not nearly as devastating, but we should be able to expect a large outbreak of chicken pox in the adult population. The vaccine has to not offer lifelong protection. So, we are protecting a generation of children from a highly contagious disease, but let them become vulnerable as adults.

    13. Re:Keep trying. by Amouth · · Score: 1

      you do realize that "somehow survived" with the current generation was via a global effort to eradicate it via vaccination. Not from any type of evolution or genetic traits. for the current generations that have never been vaccinated it will be just as bad as it was for the native americans.

      There is no cure for an active small pox infection, only prevention through vaccination. and once there is an outbreak and people are infected it will be too late to vaccinate, sure you will still do it and you will mobilize to do it and get as many as you can for herd immunity but the reality is a lot of people will die before it is contained.

      --
      '...if only "Jumping to a Conclusion" was an event in the Olympics.'
    14. Re:Keep trying. by phantomfive · · Score: 2

      You do realize that smallpox existed for a long time before the global effort to eradicate it via vaccination, right? Evolution somehow favored your ancestors.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    15. Re:Keep trying. by Amouth · · Score: 1

      You do realize how viruses work right? and how your body fights them right?

      For small pox:
      Of all those infected, 20–60%—and over 80% of infected children—died from the disease

      You do realize how freaking scary that is right? Sure it's not a 100% death rate, but 80% in children is damn close, and 20-60% in adults is really damn scary.

      Just think, at a 50% death rate, you would need each living person to bury another living person. Sure Evolution "somehow" favored our ancestors, but that doesn't mean any of us are immune to it by any means.

      There is a reason why the ENTIRE world worked together to completely eradicate small pox from the face of the planet. The first (and only to my knowledge) time the Human Race as a whole set out to completely destroy another species from our little rock in the universe.

      If your not vaccinated and your not scared of smallpox, then you need to pick something you are scared of go look up it's death rate then compare it to smallpox, maybe then you will have an understanding of the magnitude.

      --
      '...if only "Jumping to a Conclusion" was an event in the Olympics.'
    16. Re:Keep trying. by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      Well, that's a good post to write if you want to scare people.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    17. Re:Keep trying. by Amouth · · Score: 1

      if your are of my generation, the one of the ones that has not been vaccinated for smallpox, then i would hope you are scared of smallpox. Else feel free to be ignorant.

      --
      '...if only "Jumping to a Conclusion" was an event in the Olympics.'
  3. Re:Not gonna happen by jkflying · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Which is why they spent over $500 million in 2011 just on HIV vaccine clinical trials? Sorry, your argument doesn't really hold water, and anyway the company that *does* come up with the vaccine will make a killing.

    --
    Help I am stuck in a signature factory!
  4. Re:Not gonna happen by RivenAleem · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Not just make a killing, but will put all the other companies out of business as their treatments become worthless.

  5. Re:Not gonna happen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Which is why they spent over $500 million in 2011 just on HIV vaccine clinical trials? Sorry, your argument doesn't really hold water, and anyway the company that *does* come up with the vaccine will make a killing.

    I agree, but you are arguing against a conspiracy theory, never works.

  6. Here today, forgotten tomorrow. by rhook · · Score: 1

    I hear about these HIV/AIDS cures every year but they always disappear.

    1. Re:Here today, forgotten tomorrow. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    2. Re:Here today, forgotten tomorrow. by cdrudge · · Score: 1

      See where it says promising, candidate, and could in the title? Those means that it's not here, but we're getting closer. Doesn't mean that we're there yet, and as such all those promising candidates that could be a cure disappear because they were just that, promising candidates that could be...but ended up not being.

  7. Actual Pathogenesis Data relegated to Supps? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Why is figure 12 in the supplements, it seems to be the most important part (it compares cd4+ T-cell levels)? It is not even mentioned in the main text. Isn't reduction in the actual pathology the most important goal of a treatment?

    1. Re:Actual Pathogenesis Data relegated to Supps? by Electricity+Likes+Me · · Score: 2

      Nature papers are really short compared to others. Pretty much all the actual content gets put in supplements.

    2. Re:Actual Pathogenesis Data relegated to Supps? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I am aware with the problem of nature papers (eg im sure no one could replicate the study from info contained in this paper). It still seems that "This treatment reduced the amount of T-helper cell depletion" should be the main point of the study. Why use the proxy of viral load as your main outcome when you have measured the actual pathology? Seems strange to me but I do not know enough details to guess why.

    3. Re:Actual Pathogenesis Data relegated to Supps? by sjames · · Score: 1

      Because destroying the virus is the primary purpose of the vaccine?

      Th immune recovery is merely an effect of that and would be the proxy.

    4. Re:Actual Pathogenesis Data relegated to Supps? by Electricity+Likes+Me · · Score: 1

      Yeah this - viral loading is how you judge whether a patient is sick or not or responding to treatment. The depletion of the immune system only happens once you develop AIDS, rather then just HIV infection. And we've been decent at preventing AIDS for a while, but the headline news is really "we can clear an HIV (well, SIV) infection maybe".

      I mean it's really hard for me to imagine what a world where "HIV is a couple of sucky years of intensive medication" is like. I grew up in Australia where we had the grim reaper bowling commericals about HIV awareness in the 90s.

    5. Re:Actual Pathogenesis Data relegated to Supps? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I wouldn't care about the virus as long as my T-cells were kept functioning properly (the virus would be benign like many others people carry with them). I do not research AIDS but the name of the problem is Acquired ImmunoDeficiency Syndrome. HIV is the proposed distal cause, while depletion of T-cells is the proposed proximal cause of pathology. If viral load is kept low but your T-cells are still dying and not being replenished, the treatment will be ineffective. In fact, the latter is the natural mechanism of resistance for some people (mutated CCR5 gene makes it harder for the virus to enter the T cells, making viral load no longer sufficient to cause disease).

      So that answer does not satisfy me. I am just wondering what is going on in that field that the T-cell data was included in a supplement but not even mentioned in the main paper.

    6. Re:Actual Pathogenesis Data relegated to Supps? by sjames · · Score: 1

      If you can posit a mechanism where a vaccine against a virus might restore your tcell count but leave the virus untouched, you might have a point, but there is no such mechanism.

      Or, perhaps, come up with ANY example of someone whose viral load is removed where they don't see immune recovery...

    7. Re:Actual Pathogenesis Data relegated to Supps? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not a vaccine but a different virus (so similar):
      Loss of correlation between HIV viral load and CD4+ T-cell counts in HIV/HTLV-1 co-infection in treatment naive Mozambican patients.
      http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19948902

      Lack of T- cell recovery despite suppressed HIV:
      The Absence of CD4+ T Cell Count Recovery Despite Receipt of Virologically Suppressive Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy: Clinical Risk, Immunological Gaps, and Therapeutic Options
      http://cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/48/3/328.long

    8. Re:Actual Pathogenesis Data relegated to Supps? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I should note that I trust nothing in my own field just based off a few papers so those papers may not be good ones, in fact you have to know the personalities involved to really judge how reliable the literature is. Tons and tons of crap out there (mostly due to mass ignorance of stats), I know nothing about AIDS research specifically though.

    9. Re:Actual Pathogenesis Data relegated to Supps? by sjames · · Score: 1

      Vaccines are sometimes a different virus. For example, smallpox vaccine is/was cowpox.

      It does look like test subjects with a co-infection with HTLV1 would confound the results, but that wouldn't apply to simians. if/when human testing is done, I would imagine they'll stick to mono-infected subjects to avoid confounding the results.

    10. Re:Actual Pathogenesis Data relegated to Supps? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So it appears there is evidence that sustained presence of HIV is neither necessary nor sufficient for sustained T helper cell depletion. In that case, it would be reasonable to assume that looking at the proximal cause of AIDS (T cell depletion) should be a part of any study. Indeed it was a part of this study, but didn't even merit mention in the main text. So that is strange. Hopefully someone will come by with the insider perspective.

    11. Re:Actual Pathogenesis Data relegated to Supps? by sjames · · Score: 1

      Those are confounding issues to claim of an AIDS cure. However, this is an HIV vaccine whose endpoint is eradication of HIV from the patent. That's why they measure viral load rather than Tcels or the patient's general feeling of satisfaction with life.

      Once that step is taken and the vaccine is shown to be effective at it's primary objective, we can look at the mechanisms that can lead to immune non-response.

      Otherwise, why not use patient happiness as the endpoint? After all, if people were happy to have AIDS, we wouldn't even be looking for cure.

    12. Re:Actual Pathogenesis Data relegated to Supps? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Most likely because all the animal models to detect mood suck? They are stuff like dump the animal in an unexcape-able pool and see how long they struggle (if the give up easy they are depressed).

  8. But God won't like it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm sure he'll just do something worse.

    1. Re:But God won't like it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm sure he'll just do something worse.

      That was my first thought. AIDS was a warning - stop promoting gays and harlots. We should heed it

  9. On related news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Researchers working on a promising HIV vaccine just got hired by big pharma. The trials of this promising cure will go on under close scrutiny by their new man-in-charge".

  10. After watching the video by canadiannomad · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This sounds really interesting...
    It sounds like, instead of infecting the patient with a blunted virus that would eventually die away, they are permanently infecting the patient with a persistent virus that looks and acts like their target but causes no harm to keep up the immune response over the long haul. Sounds to me like a really interesting approach.
    Maybe someone could enlighten me to the history of this approach in the treatment of other diseases, or is it novel?

    --
    Hmm, the humour and sarcasm seem to have been be lost on you.
    1. Re:After watching the video by somersault · · Score: 1

      Maybe someone could enlighten me to the history of this approach in the treatment of other diseases, or is it novel?

      The Smallpox vaccine used this approach very succesfully :)

      --
      which is totally what she said
    2. Re:After watching the video by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Is this persistent virus infectious? I guess a vaccination that you get by having sex with a vaccinated person might prove quite popular ;-)

      Captcha: screwed - are the Captchas generated by an AI?

    3. Re:After watching the video by canadiannomad · · Score: 2

      The Smallpox vaccine used this approach very succesfully :)

      Well they are using a live vaccine (based on Adenoviridae), but the idea is that it will get killed by the immune system and therefor reduce immune response over time... Whereas this vaccine is going for a persistent infection of the vaccine virus. Or am I misreading the info on the Smallpox vaccine?

      --
      Hmm, the humour and sarcasm seem to have been be lost on you.
    4. Re:After watching the video by slashmydots · · Score: 1

      By interesting approach, you mean unbelievably dangerous? One little unfortunately mutation in those couple trillion virus cells over several decades and the patient is dead.

    5. Re:After watching the video by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So the vast vast majority of humans who are currently infected by CMV (cytomegalovirus or "mononucleosis", the kissing bug) are gonners?! Oh man, housing prices are gonna fall through the floor!

      Most life forms, even viruses, do not evolve much over the span of mere decades. HIV is quite unusual in that regard and still takes decades to do it -- and it evolves according to environmental pressures and its changes can be monitored and known. HIV is actually terrible at "spellchecking" its DNA, that's why it is prone to "drifting" in the patient such that it can sometimes develop resistance to a class of ARV drugs. Which is why HAART currently uses three different drugs in the patient which radically reduces the probabilities of the virus being able to mutate and development resistance against all three drugs simultaneously. This keeps the drugs effective far beyond the lifespan of a typical human.

      Even untreated HIV (a rarity nowadays) takes ~10 years to cause enough damage for AIDS to develop. It's only been about 30 years since "the beginning" of the epidemic. We're limping along on biotech from the early '90s still due to lack of research funding since no one is afraid of HIV anymore -- since the drugs work so well!

      Imagine if you couldn't get research to develop a better cell phone because your old brick from 1996 was deemed "good enough" by politicians.

    6. Re:After watching the video by Capt.DrumkenBum · · Score: 1

      Over the course of "several decades" we all have a pretty good chance of death.
      For example, I will be 45 next week. If we take "several decades" to mean 3 decades, then at the end of "several decades" I will be 75 years old. None of the men in my family have lived past 70 so, there is a really good chance that in the next several decades I will be dead.

      You don't give up on something just because it isn't perfect.

      --
      If I were God, wouldn't I protect my churches from acts of me?
  11. Re:Not gonna happen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yes no real conspiracies here, although they don't help their case when they do get caught fabricating positive results to sell more drugs.
    The real problem is that with vaccines being less profitable they have spent less than half a billion on vaccines but much more than that on drugs.
    They don't conspire to suppress but they wont bother to put nearly as much effort in to the lower profit products.
    This is why we wont get completely new antibiotics until the last moment and possibly too late for some, until you have a customer base why run the timer out on a new patient when you could just wait.

  12. Great news for vets! by tonymercmobily · · Score: 1

    Vets all over the world rejoice! Your monkeys will be free of HIV anytime now!

    1. Re:Great news for vets! by canadiannomad · · Score: 2

      :)
      Though vets in the US and Canada might not have much need, I can see an immediate use for this vaccine as it stands...

      From: Wikipedia: Simian immunodeficiency virus

      Beatrice Hahn of the University of Pennsylvania recently led a team of researchers to find that chimpanzees do die from simian AIDS in the wild and that the AIDS outbreak in Africa has contributed to the decline of chimpanzee populations.

      --
      Hmm, the humour and sarcasm seem to have been be lost on you.
    2. Re:Great news for vets! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm sure vets will be very happy if this at least leads to a treatment for cats infected with FIV.

  13. Re:Not gonna happen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Which is why they spent over $500 million in 2011 just on HIV vaccine clinical trials? Sorry, your argument doesn't really hold water, and anyway the company that *does* come up with the vaccine will make a killing.

    that's for sure.
    either by selling the vaccine, or by being bought by an HIV pharmaceutical company to be buried.

    that's not a conspiracy theory. that's common practice everywhere else, so why wouldn't it be in pharma?
    they just have to keep it quiet because of the moral outrage.

  14. Re:Not gonna happen by macson_g · · Score: 1

    Nice tinfoil hat. When can I buy one?

  15. Re:Not gonna happen by DrXym · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Not worthless, since it's unlikely any vaccine will be 100% effective even assuming all at-risk people were to receive it.

    Besides any vaccination campaign would take some years to ramp up and anti-retrovirals become less effective and ultimately go out of patent over time any way. So it's not like their business is going to go bust over night or wouldn't have drawn to a natural end anyway.

  16. Isn't the internest about cats? by spokenoise · · Score: 0

    Monkeys? This could work for feline aids. Then I could vaccinate my cat! Then all the cat lovers on the internets could have aids free pussies!

  17. At long last by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I can't tell you how long I've wanted to have unprotected sex with monkeys. It doesn't feel the same when using a rubber.

  18. I agree with OP by davidmcg · · Score: 0

    There is an entire industry with an innate economic interest to obstruct, suppress and discredit any information about the eradication of diseases. The pharmaceutical industry makes over one trillion dollars from selling drugs for ongoing diseases. These drugs may relieve symptoms, but they do not cure. We have to realize that the mission of this industry is to make money from ongoing diseases. The cure or eradication of a disease leads to the collapse of a multi-billion dollar market of pharmaceuticals. We are bombarded with advertising campaigns by pharmaceutical companies wanting to make us believe that they are “Searching for Cures” “Striving for the Eradication of Diseases” or “Increasing Life Expectancy” and other false promises. With these deceptive statements, the pharmaceutical industry has for decades been able to disguise the true nature of its business – maximum profit from ongoing diseases. In other words, a cure for HIV will never see the light of day as it would undermine the profits made from selling life-long drugs to patients and would pretty much destroy the pharmaceutical industry. This would only benefit one company who would make massive profits and would refuse to share the cure with other companies and organisations.

    1. Re:I agree with OP by MBGMorden · · Score: 1

      True, but there are multiple companies working on these things. If one doesn't have a drug on the market then they're not benefitting from the other companies making money and it WOULD work better for them to develop a cure.

      Also, take note that this isn't a straight-up cure - its a vaccination. Think about that for a second - its expanding the market. If you're marketting a cure, or even just treatments, then you're only selling your drug to people that actually have the disease. A vaccination gets taken even by people who DON'T. Why sell your AIDS treatment to the tiny bit of the population that actually has AIDS you you can sell your vaccination to the entire population instead?

      --
      "People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
    2. Re:I agree with OP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not to mention that increasing their life expectancy they will be more likely to need treatments for other illnesses. Old people are the real cash cow for the Pharma. As heartless as they might be (and I am not convinced about that), their long term interests coincide with that of the society very often.

    3. Re:I agree with OP by hedwards · · Score: 1

      That's ridiculous. I realize that it's cool to hate on big pharma, but let's keep it within the realm of reality.

      HIV related medications aren't something that the industry would like to be involved in. The medications don't last very long before the virus mutates it in a way that renders it ineffective. During that time they have to charge huge amounts of money to hopefully break even before they need a new medication. Same goes for antibiotics, the more you sell, the less effective it becomes. And a lot of the folks with HIV have it because they didn't know how to protect themselves or engage in other risky behaviors.

      The medications that they like selling are things like diabetes or asthma medications that are needed for decades and don't need to be updated regularly.

      Or in other words, big pharma would be more than happy to cure HIV because it's just not that profitable compared with other chronic diseases and there's little predictability about how much they could make in the future.

    4. Re:I agree with OP by the+gnat · · Score: 1

      Or in other words, big pharma would be more than happy to cure HIV because it's just not that profitable compared with other chronic diseases and there's little predictability about how much they could make in the future.

      Not only that, it's fantastic PR. The company that produces a vaccine that ends the HIV pandemic will be bragging about it for the next several decades, and rightly so. (Same goes for cancer, the common cold, etc.) They will be guaranteed profits, because foundations like Gates, NGOs like the WHO and UN, and some governments will hand them buckets of cash to inoculate their populations. Of course it will also take many years to truly eradicate a disease which already infects huge numbers of adults, guaranteeing a long-term revenue stream. It's just such a no-brainer that any pharma CEO who suppresses a cure to keep selling medications which will be off-patent in a few years anyway should be locked up for defrauding shareholders.

    5. Re:I agree with OP by hedwards · · Score: 1

      Pretty much. I'm not the biggest fan of big pharma, but some of the conspiracy theories are just ridiculous. Yes, they do tend to overcharge and use government subsidies to help their profits, but there's more than enough incurable diseases out there to provide treatments for to make it not worthwhile to hold back on cures for things that can be cured.

      Preventative medicine isn't really their domain anyways.

  19. Re:Not gonna happen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That's just to show the public that they are "researching" for it, but in the end, if they can't sell this thing for more than a lifetime of the current product, won't happen.

  20. Re:Not gonna happen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    You don't buy tinfoil hats. The ones you buy are all compromised. Learn how to build a tinfoil hat yourself.

  21. Re:Not gonna happen by AmiMoJo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Only if they price it so that everyone who needs it can afford it. Obviously that won't happen, they will want to maximize profit in rich countries instead of practically giving it away in Africa, so all those poor people will still need the other cheaper treatments.

    --
    const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
    SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  22. Re:Not gonna happen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You can join the Tinfoil Hat Society.

  23. Re:Not gonna happen by ericloewe · · Score: 1

    You don't! You have to make it yourself, otherwise it could be made to allow the establishment to read your thoughts just when you thought you were safe!

  24. Weird. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That's odd. I've managed to avoid AIDs by using a rubber, not having unprotected gay sex (well, no gay sex in my case, but whatever) and not doing intravenous drugs.

    1. Re:Weird. by SuricouRaven · · Score: 1

      The world is full of stupid and reckless people. We can't fix this, but at least a vaccine can contain the damage.

    2. Re:Weird. by dindi · · Score: 1

      There are also blood bank contaminations, health workers get it from blood, and there are the unlucky who are born with it.

      Also rubbers break and if you are really unlucky thee are other ways to get it... blood contacting your wound, eyes.. etc.. While not common, it can happen...

    3. Re:Weird. by kimvette · · Score: 1

      So you're not a dentist, a physician, surgeon, EMT, tattoist, piercer, virus technician, phlebotomist, LNA, RN, LPN, or a compassionate person with first aid skills so you would never, ever come into contact with anyone else's blood, and you're fortunate enough to never, ever need a transfusion, require dental work, or any surgery or injections? There are people who live straight-edge lives who have contracted HIV, you know - and that doesn't take into account rape victims, children of AIDS patients, and so on.

      Also, HIV is prevalently a heterosexual disease now. It hasn't been a predominantly gay disease since the 1980s. FYI condoms are only 90% effective at best, so I hope your whores aren't infected.

      --
      The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
    4. Re:Weird. by kimvette · · Score: 1

      Also, the one in something like 30-billion chance that you contract it through a handshake? It hasn't ever been confirmed to happen but is theoretically possible. Also, I hope you don't use public toilets, because some HIV strains have been evolved which can survive for long periods in the open air on hard surfaces. Don't use public restrooms, don't touch handrails, etc.

      Not everyone with HIV is gay (most aren't!), has "unsafe" sex, or does IV drugs.

      --
      The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
    5. Re:Weird. by Capt.DrumkenBum · · Score: 1

      There is only enough blood supply to work one head at a time.
      Also:
      A hard cock has no conscience.

      --
      If I were God, wouldn't I protect my churches from acts of me?
    6. Re:Weird. by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

      HIV is a prevalently heterosexual disease in _Africa_. They have some weird sexual practices there that makes it transmit much better. African standard for 'perfect pussy' is bone dry and very tight.

      The straight AIDS epidemic has still not arrived in the first world. It remains largely a gay and IV drug users disease. Women that fuck gay men and drug abusers are catching it, but mostly that's as far as it goes.

      Put bluntly, to catch AIDS through sex you have to be 'a catcher'.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
  25. Re:Not gonna happen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    There are provisions in international law that state that poor countries can ignore patents on life-saving drugs if the patent-holder prices them prohibitively expensively. In practice, this means that drug companies price the products by region, trying to replicate the US model of "rich people can afford it, poor people can go and die in a corner."

  26. Re:Not gonna happen by isorox · · Score: 1

    the company that *does* come up with the vaccine will make a killing.

    Wouldn't that mean the vaccine doesn't work?

  27. Re:Not gonna happen by Half-pint+HAL · · Score: 1

    Pharma companies make boatloads of money selling lifelong drugs to HIV sufferers. The last thing they want is a cure that'd kill the cash cow.

    OTOH, have you any idea what would happen to the share price of the first company to produce a cure for AIDS? Any individuals in a position to suppress it would also likely stand to profit from a bonanza share options windfall. And suppressing it without shareholder approval would be potentially criminal, and definitely actionable in the civil courts.

    --
    Got them moderator blues I blieve I walk out the do', With these mod-points I been gettin', I 'most never post no mo'
  28. Re:Not gonna happen by Mashiki · · Score: 1

    I always liked this line of tinfoil hat craziness. It reminds me of the people who say "there will never be a cure for cancer" except when you point out that there are indeed various clinical trials up now, and in some case experimental deployment of various cancer drugs now. My grandmother who has stage 4 lung cancer received a non-radiation treatment as part of her treatment plan, it reduced the size of the tumors by 50%. Sadly it didn't reduce it enough that they could successfully operate and remove said cancer, or even remove the lung itself.

    Or people who complain that there won't be a cure for diabetes, except where you can point out things like...islet implants(aka a artificial pancreas). Where the failure rate over time is in the 20-30% range after 15 years. My sister got that, as part of the clinical trials here in Canada. Sadly she was in the very small subset(~10%) where it fails within 3 years.

    --
    Om, nomnomnom...
  29. Re:Not gonna happen by Talderas · · Score: 2

    It boils down to "Dead people don't make you money."

    --
    "Lack of speed can be overcome. In the worst case by patience." --Znork
  30. phase 1 trials by tantrum · · Score: 1

    Several companies are starting their phase 3 trials about now. I've invested in one of them. If they are successfull I'll retire, but I mostly invested just to make sure someone is working on it.

    It takes time to move from "killing viruses in a jar" to actually making something that removes the viruses from people without killing them at the same time.

  31. Submitted another like this days ago by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That was rejected http://now.msn.com/hiv-vaccine-trial-subjects-experience-no-adverse-effects from submissions...

    * Interesting reading, & I, for one, hope they wipe this SOB out - it has royally messed up folks lives in many ways for decades now.

    APK

    P.S.=> Don't understand HOW or WHY it was rejected, but "that's slashdot" for you - Still, the folks in question here aren't the ONLY ONES ontop of a fix for this killer it seems... apk

  32. Population growth by benjfowler · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Given that HIV/AIDS has made the population growth rates in certain places explode, and that these places have very young populations, would a definitive cure for HIV/AIDS set off a massive population timebomb? Has any thought been given to the consequences of very suddenly removing a big source of mortality?

    1. Re:Population growth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Short term yes, long term no. Anything that increases that odds of having grandchildren will have a negative effect on reproductive rates.

    2. Re:Population growth by felipekk · · Score: 2

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIDS#Epidemiology

      HIV/AIDS is a global pandemic. As of 2010, approximately 34 million people have HIV worldwide. Of these approximately 16.8 million are women and 3.4 million are less than 15 years old. It resulted in about 1.8 million deaths in 2010, down from a peak of 2.2 million in 2005.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_growth#Human_population_growth_rate

      The CIA World Factbook gives the world annual birthrate, mortality rate, and growth rate as 1.89%, 0.79%, and 1.095% respectively.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Population

        As of today, it is estimated to number 7.109 billion by the United States Census Bureau (USCB).

      0.79% * 7.1 bi = 56 mi deaths yearly.

      If these calculations are correct this means AIDS accounts for 3.5% of yearly deaths worldwide, I don't think this counts as a "big source".

      But I could be wrong...

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortality_rate

      According to the World Health Organization, the 10 leading causes of death in 2002 were:

              12.6% Ischaemic heart disease
              9.7% Cerebrovascular disease
              6.8% Lower respiratory infections
              4.9% HIV/AIDS
              4.8% Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
              3.2% Diarrhoeal diseases
              2.7% Tuberculosis
              2.2% Trachea/bronchus/lung cancers
              2.2% Malaria
              2.1% Road traffic accidents

    3. Re: Population growth by nbritton · · Score: 1

      A very promising vaccine candidate for HIV/AIDS has shown the ability to completely clear the simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), a very aggressive form of HIV that leads to AIDS in monkeys. Developed at the Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute at the Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU), the vaccine proved successful in about fifty percent of the subjects tested and could lead to a human vaccine preventing the onset of HIV/AIDS and even cure patients currently on anti-retroviral drugs.

      Not the best idea, but maybe those who can't afforded the treatment can be subsidized by the government if they agree to sterilization.

    4. Re:Population growth by pseudofrog · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Maybe in the short term. But in the long term, building strong economies has been shown, time and again, to reduce birthrates significantly. Stamping out HIV would remove a huge burden on these economies, making sustainable growth easier to attain.

    5. Re: Population growth by nbritton · · Score: 1

      Not the best idea, but maybe those who can't afford the treatment can be subsidized by the government if they agree to sterilization.

      If fact, the government should subsidize all voluntary sterilizations and forms of birth control. Almost all of the worlds problems stem from overpopulation. Furthermore, if they incentivize this, it may be possible to achieve negative population growth.

      People think that individuals on welfare have babies on purpose, but the reality is they can't afford birth control. Give free birth control to anyone who wants it, it's as simple as:

      1) a medical professional writes you prescription.
      2) you take it to the pharmacy.
      3) if it's on the approved formulary, the pharmacy bills it to the government.

      Done and solved.

    6. Re:Population growth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Has any thought been given to the consequences of very suddenly removing a big source of mortality?

      I'm sure a lot of thought has been given to it -- just not by people like you who disregard human suffering and death as a thing of no importance...

      Protip: these days, it's generally considered moral to value human lives more than money.

  33. Re:Not gonna happen by MightyYar · · Score: 1

    Usually they practice price discrimination, which any Econ 101 student can demonstrate as a way to price that maximizes your profits. A single, fixed price only benefits the wealthy.

    --
    W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
  34. Re:Not gonna happen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The patents on those will expire in a few years, allowing their competitors to start producing them at rock bottom prices. They'll lose the market anyway. Their solution is to invent it's replacement (the cure) and then exploit their monopoly on that for 10-20 years. So they Do have an incentive to find the cure.

  35. Re:Not gonna happen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...and your kidney analogy is flawed because the hardware (artificial kidneys dialysis etc) costs much more and can't drop in price in the same way as a pill can that's as cheap/easy to manufacture as aspirin.

  36. Re:Not gonna happen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    This is because there is no such thing as conspiracies.

    And no such thing as collusion, cartels, corruption etc. either. It's all in his head. Why does he hate pharma so much? They're only doing their level best to make people healthy and happy and provide sunshine and ponies for all.

  37. Re:Not gonna happen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sounds like someone is off his meds

  38. Re:Not gonna happen by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    Yeah, like that's gonna work. Patents you have to keep secret are worthless, because as soon as someone else develops it (and your patent could strike), you'd have to go public with it anyway.

    Tech burying only works exactly if you can go public with it but can claim that not releasing it is in some way good for the consumers.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  39. Re:Not gonna happen by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    Nice try, shill. That's the new tactic, trying to sound like you're helping while undermining the system and paving the way for THEM. We all know already that you made sure that all the tinfoil we could buy on the open market has been tampered with to make it useless for building hats.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  40. Re:Not gonna happen by Defenestrar · · Score: 4, Informative

    Actually, a number of big pharma companies do give away (or sell at cost) to poor regions like sub-Saharan Africa the same medications they charge an arm and a leg for in the richer parts of the world. Where the process breaks down is when a disease disproportionally affects a poor region (like malaria) such that there is not a fiscally sound business model for pursuing the high risk/benefit research involved with drug development.

    As an aside, I think that one of the most commendable fields of the Gates Foundation is their promotion of research for malaria (see the TED talk where Gates releases a jar of mosquitoes into the audience).

  41. CMV and Heterlogous Antigen Delivery by Guppy · · Score: 5, Informative

    As someone who actually worked on (albeit briefly) an HIV vaccine candidate, I'd like to comment that there have been a number of successful anti-SIV vaccines already, each of which have gone on to miserable -- and expensive -- failures when the underlying technology was applied to an HIV vaccine. And for those candidates that actually made it to human trials before failure, each attempt had a human cost as well (conspiracy theorists, go fuck yourselves).

    That being said, the approach used is rather clever, if someone risky. The technique used is what is known as a "Heterologous Antigen" delivery, but in this case it has been combined with a persistent agent that establishes a life-long infection. The vector used was Rhesus Cytomegalovirus, which has a analogous human virus known as Human Cytomegalovirus, aka Herpesvirus-5.

    CMV is a very common infection (in some countries 90+%, although somewhat lower in the United States). It's generally considered harmless to healthy individuals, and most pick it up during childhood, where it is commonly passed around in daycare centers and such. Initial symptoms are usually mild and non-specific (although in some individuals it can produce Mono-like symptoms), and typically afterwards the viral infection is well-controlled with no further signs of infection. Unlike some more famous members of the Herpesvirus family, it does not produce any sores or vesicles or such.

    However, on occasion it can be dangerous, as one of the infectious agents that can sometimes result in TORCH syndrome effects (like the infamous "Blueberry Muffin Baby") when primary infections (first encounter with the infectious agent for an individual) occurs in a pregnant women. It can also be dangerous in immunosuppressed individuals, such as organ transplant recipients and advanced AIDS patients.

    1. Re:CMV and Heterlogous Antigen Delivery by morethanapapercert · · Score: 1

      +1 Informative

      --
      I need a wheelchair van for my son. Help me get the word out. https://www.gofundme.com/wheelchair-van-for-jj
    2. Re:CMV and Heterlogous Antigen Delivery by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That being said, the approach used is rather clever, if someone risky. The technique used is what is known as a "Heterologous Antigen" delivery, but in this case it has been combined with a persistent agent that establishes a life-long infection. The vector used was Rhesus Cytomegalovirus, which has a analogous human virus known as Human Cytomegalovirus [wikipedia.org], aka Herpesvirus-5.

      So we can cure cancer by giving you aids, then we cure your aids by giving you herpes?

      I suppose it's a start.

    3. Re:CMV and Heterlogous Antigen Delivery by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ... And for those candidates that actually made it to human trials before failure, each attempt had a human cost as well...

      Wait, so you have a vaccine candidate, you administer the vaccine, then you expose the person to HIV and see if they become infected?

      Who would sign up for that?

    4. Re:CMV and Heterlogous Antigen Delivery by compro01 · · Score: 1

      Who would sign up for that?

      Candidates who are already at risk of HIV exposure, e.g. prostitutes.

      --
      upon the advice of my lawyer, i have no sig at this time
    5. Re:CMV and Heterlogous Antigen Delivery by phorm · · Score: 1

      +1 reason I actually still visit this site

      (there are still a few people who know their sh** and can offer informed discussion on the topic).

    6. Re:CMV and Heterlogous Antigen Delivery by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      For frequent blood donors, they'll often screen your blood for CMV so that they have a guaranteed negative supply to pass along to immunosupressed individuals. I happen to know I'm CMV negative. (15 gallon donor)

    7. Re:CMV and Heterlogous Antigen Delivery by Firethorn · · Score: 1

      In addition, you don't deliberately expose the vaccination candidate, you vaccinate a test population with a proper double blind*

      *IE not all are actually vaccinated, and you disclose this to the population (There's a 50/50 chance we're injecting you with plain saline, and even then we don't know if the vaccine will work!)

      If you do this with 200 people, and 5 come up with the disease out of the control group and 1 out of the vaccine group, you have something to go on towards longer/larger term studies.

      With vaccines today you can also look at antibody titers. If the right antibodies show up, then you have evidence that the individual may have gained immunity. HIV is crazy tenacious and good at hiding, so even the known antibodies might not be enough.

      --
      I don't read AC A human right
    8. Re:CMV and Heterlogous Antigen Delivery by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You don't deliberately expose them. You monitor them over time and see if they become infected less than a control group. Your control group needs to have relatively similar risks of exposure.

  42. The public doesn't care by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    In spite of the population explosion in Africa, since the 1960s, charities still guilt people in wealthy, industrialized nations into giving lots of money. They've been guilting people since the 1970s. China was also poor in the 1970s...

    The general public doesn't know. The politicians, and the charities will continue guilting people. They don't care.

  43. Re:Not gonna happen by Bengie · · Score: 1

    $500m of whom's money? I know there are lots of grants out there. I remember my ISP saying similar things. "We spent over $1bil upgrading our state-of-the-art fiber network in your state." But they don't tell you about most of the money coming from the Government.

  44. Re:Not gonna happen by dindi · · Score: 1

    They can vaccinate you with some poorly tested crap as well, then cash-in on the medication needed to cure the "side effects". Alzheimer's, cancers ... and restless leg syndrome.

    It is a win-win situation for the pharma-industrial-complex. Also even if you don't FSCK around like rabbits, you will be either required or scared into thinking that you need the vaccination. Maybe some "accidental" blood contaminations breaking news will do that for you...
     

  45. Re:Not gonna happen by clickclickdrone · · Score: 1

    It boils down to "Dead people don't make you money."

    Unless you're an undertaker.

    --
    I want a list of atrocities done in your name - Recoil
  46. Yes. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Poor people gonna poor.

    Meanwhile, the rest of us will continue to be grossly overweight and use water like it falls from the sky.

    Sorry kids, Earth isn't full. It's just filled with idiots.

    1. Re:Yes. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ... water does fall from the sky.

  47. Basic research? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), a very aggressive form of HIV"
    Those are two different viruses, one is not a different form of another. Yes they are from the same family but they infect different hosts and are targeted (affected) by different host defenses....

    1. Re:Basic research? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They are similar viruses and share many biological mechanisms. It is interesting that we as species have been often exposed to SIV. A mutation provided us (and probably some monkeys) immunity to it. And, unfortunately, the same mutation made us vulnerable to HIV.
      Yet many "promising" HIV vaccines proved unsuccessful in human trials, so don't hold your breath yet.

    2. Re:Basic research? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes you're right. That's the point I was trying to make, SIV doesn't infect humans, and HIV doesn't infect monkeys (to my knowledge).
      A working vaccine in monkeys is a long way from a working vaccine for HIV.

  48. Re:Not gonna happen by TWiTfan · · Score: 1

    Nice tinfoil hat. When can I buy one?

    The NSA has already read your post and will be mailing you one later today.

    --
    The cow says "Moo." The dog says "Woof." The Timothy says "Thanks, valued customer. We appreciate your input."
  49. Re:Not gonna happen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Note: This is not an attack aimed at you. I'm just using part of your otherwise good post as an example.

    Namely, seeing things like

    a fiscally sound business model for pursuing the high risk/benefit research

    in conjunction with saving the lives of people and realizing that that kind of reasoning decides who gets to live and who gets to die, is ... sickening.

    The human race has a long way to go. Hopefully we'll not kill ourselves off before getting there.

  50. Not convinced by pchasco · · Score: 0

    How can they be sure that these monkeys haven't been cured simply by practicing better hygiene?

    1. Re:Not convinced by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      SIV (and HIV) is not something thats cured by hygiene. It's a persistent viral infection that hides in the immune cells.

    2. Re:Not convinced by pchasco · · Score: 1

      Sorry. I was being facetious. One of the arguments anti-vaxxers put up is that the dramatic decline of polio, measles, etc. infections had nothing to do with the vaccines we began administering en mass, but rather because we all started washing our hands. Which is, of course, absolute hogwash.

  51. Re:Not gonna happen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Pffft! You buy tinfoil to build your hat? I make my own tinfoil with some hydrogen atoms.

  52. Re:Not gonna happen by morgauxo · · Score: 4, Funny

    Nah, then they will just pay someone to write a paper stating that HIV vaccine causes autism.

  53. Re:Not gonna happen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Not just make a killing, but will put all the other companies out of business as their treatments become worthless.

    You think the drug companies that make HIV treatments will go out of business? You think all Bayer makes is HIV treatments? Losing one product doesn't make a company go bankrupt.

  54. CMV keeps up immune response by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They use genetically modified CMV to keep the immune system alert and keep the sustained level of antibodies that kill SIV. CMV is otherwise harmless, but can not be cleared up completely and the body produces antibodies all the time. So, the immune system is fooled to produce antibodies that target SIV, trying to actually destroy CMV. Over time SIV gets wiped out even in viral reservoirs. After some months, the viral concentration is not even detectable anymore.

    Why it works in 50% of monkeys is not yet understood. I guess in some of the monkeys, antibodies might not have properties that result with an attack on SIV (could be resolved by designing a better CMV hybrid), or the immune response wanes after some time. Maybe we humans will have more luck though - or maybe the teick doesn't work at all with out immune system.

    1. Re:CMV keeps up immune response by omnichad · · Score: 1

      Why it works in 50% might have something to do with how the CMV vaccines already in trials (not for HIV) only have a 50% efficacy rate in humans. This is according to a 2009 study I found via Wikipedia...

  55. Super Monkey Rage Virus by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is it me or does this sound like it could quickly turn into some super virus gone wrong? "Sir our vaccine just bonded with the HIV T cells and has begun to rapidly spread throughout the infected hosts, SIR the hosts..they ar....they are eating the treatment staff!"

  56. Re:Not gonna happen by backslashdot · · Score: 1

    What cash cow? There is a lot of competition from India and elsewhere and in fact the profit from HIV drugs has become very low now. It used to cost $1000 a day to treat HIV .. now it's about $10 and there are many different companies making the drugs. How did the cost drop? Why didn't they keep the cost at $1000 a day so they can make more money?

    If it's such a profitable business to make HIV drugs why don't you make them? You can make them in India or South Africa where patents on medicines are not recognized. Also you can slightly modify the drug's molecular structure (without affecting its effectiveness much) and not have to worry about the patent.

  57. Re: Not gonna happen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Yes, those children who catch it from their mothers really ought to know better.

    http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/risk/gender/pregnantwomen/index.html

  58. Re:Not gonna happen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Namely, seeing things like

    a fiscally sound business model for pursuing the high risk/benefit research

    in conjunction with saving the lives of people and realizing that that kind of reasoning decides who gets to live and who gets to die, is ... sickening.

    So are you saying you don't understand that drugs cost huge amounts of money to research, develop, test, and approve? Or is it that you don't understand that no business concern can operate at a loss indefinitely?

    It may SUCK that we have to make these decisions, but unless you have a way of funding drug research that doesn't involve the companies doing the research losing money year after year, then this is the reality we live in.

    Education would make those poor people's lives better. Better food. Better medicine. Better housing. Better water treatment. Is it "sickening" that I didn't buy a house for a poor family in Africa, yet bought a house for myself and my family? Is the contractor who built my house morally reprehensible for working for me, instead of losing his life's savings building houses that people can't afford in Africa?

    Please learn to divorce the touchy-feely "every human is special and deserves to live like Warren Buffett" from the practical reality that there's no such thing as a free lunch.

  59. Re:Not gonna happen by omnichad · · Score: 1

    Even if that were true, if a competitor could kill that business and make only a few million in the process, that's still profit for them instead of the competitor.

  60. Re:Not gonna happen by omnichad · · Score: 1

    An increase in supply now only decreases the pool for later profits. You want them to live long enough to:
    A) Have children
    B) Bug their children to give them grandchildren.

  61. Re:Not gonna happen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So are you saying you don't understand that drugs cost huge amounts of money to research, develop, test, and approve?

    You should go to Wiki and look up the Fallacy of Sunk Costs.

  62. Re:Not gonna happen by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 2

    Patents you have to keep secret are worthless

    Yeah, things that don't exist often are.

    --
    Ezekiel 23:20
  63. Re:Not gonna happen by DexterIsADog · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Wrong - you're just so wrong. Look at the top causes of death worldwide - HIV/AIDS is SIXTH, more people die of diarrhea than of HIV, and diarrhea is very preventable. More than FOUR times the number die of heart disease, which is also largely preventable.

    And that's just worldwide. As an exercise to improve your awareness of the facts, go look up the causes of death in the U.S. and report back to us. Don't forget to mention motor vehicle accidents (4 times the deaths caused by HIV), and FREAKING DIABETES (8 times the deaths caused by HIV).

    People needlessly die from HIV/AIDS, but it's not even close to the "biggest Darwin award disease ever". Maybe you have some personal bias that makes you think that.

  64. Re:Not gonna happen by Bam_Thwok · · Score: 1

    That's not the fallacy. The fallacy would be "We've already spent 500 million on research and development for this drug, but shit, only the incredibly impoverished really need it so we must charge them an arm and a leg, even if that means no one can buy it". It is not "There is no viable market for this drug, therefore we should not spend any money on R&D for it, because it could bankrupt us". That's just a rational economic decision.

  65. Re:Not gonna happen by DexterIsADog · · Score: 2, Funny

    You think all Bayer makes is HIV treatments? Losing one product doesn't make a company go bankrupt.

    True, when Bayer's heroin sales became unpopular, and then it lost it's Zyklon-B product line, they still had aspirin to fall back on.

  66. Re: Not gonna happen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    And the rape victims. Especially the 9-year-old girls who are raped because it's believed sex with a virgin will cure you of the disease. Yeah, everyone with HIV totally deserves it.

  67. Re:Not gonna happen by Talderas · · Score: 1

    Additionally, there is more profit with older deaths due to add on services. Old and violent deaths in open casket funerals lets you make awesome additional charges on making the body presentable.

    --
    "Lack of speed can be overcome. In the worst case by patience." --Znork
  68. A Bill Hicks Prophecy by StoneyMahoney · · Score: 1

    The day they come out with a guaranteed one-shot cure for AIDS, there will be f***ing in the streets.

    "IT'S OVEEEEERRRRR!"
    "WHOOOOOHOOOO!"
    "Who are you? C'mere!"

    "No, it's over! YEAH!"

    And if you can't get laid that day, just cut it off!

  69. Re:Not gonna happen by Swampash · · Score: 1

    The way to make money is to offer:

    1. A vaccine.
    2. A cure.
    3. Long-term treatment.

  70. Re:Not gonna happen by Swampash · · Score: 1

    parent up please

  71. Re:Not gonna happen by binarylarry · · Score: 1

    I have patents on that business model, asshole.

    You will be hearing from my attorney!

    --
    Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
  72. just wait by spirit_fingers · · Score: 1

    Just as there's mass hysteria and a lot of unfounded accusations around the rubella and other vaccinations, there will be with the HIV vaccine as well. Ignorant parents will insist it made their kid autistic or ADHD or a gangbanger or whatever.

  73. Re:Not gonna happen by baKanale · · Score: 1

    So are you saying you don't understand that drugs cost huge amounts of money to research, develop, test, and approve?

    You should go to Wiki and look up the Fallacy of Sunk Costs.

    You should go to the Wiki and look up "Why the fuck would they bother investing money in all that to begin with if they plan to exsanguinate themselves by operating at a loss from the start". The sunk cost fallacy means "Don't throw good money after bad", not "Throw your money in the garbage plan because you'll never make anything out of it anyway".

  74. "Very Promising" by denmarkw00t · · Score: 1

    Somewhat misleading - I listened to this topic on NPR for the past week (first heard about it Monday - yay /.!). 50% of test cases were successful, so while the vaccine is a good thing to continue to investigate, "very promising" is a bit off as it needs more work. Although, it should also be noted that SIV is a much much more deadly disease than HIV/AIDS.

  75. Re:Not gonna happen by kermidge · · Score: 1

    Re: Gates Foundation and malaria.

    Also worthy of note is the GO Fight Against Malaria Project at World Community Grid and the research done at Scripps in La Jolla. From the Wikipedia article,
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Community_Grid#GO_Fight_Against_Malaria_Project

    a relevant portion
    "In the latest status report, published on November 2012 and available here, the scientists reported that several compounds had been found to inhibit the virus activity. 20 compounds were ordered, 19 actually arrived, of which 3 were not soluble. From the remaining 16, 7 inhibited Mtb InhA(Mycobacterium tuberculosis). The best hit displayed an IC50 value of approximately 40 micro-Molar. The discovery of this compound is important because of the drug resistant superbugs of Mycobacterium tuberculosis."

    The "here" link is
    http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/forums/wcg/viewthread_thread,34265_offset,0#401213

    and current status as of 10 July 2013 at
    http://gofightagainstmalaria.scripps.edu/index.php/how-we-will-discover-potential-malaria-drugs

    Their data is open and available.

  76. Re:Not gonna happen by the+gnat · · Score: 1

    They can vaccinate you with some poorly tested crap as well, then cash-in on the medication needed to cure the "side effects". Alzheimer's, cancers ... and restless leg syndrome.

    I'm sorry, I must be behind on the medical literature. What vaccines have been proven to cause Alzheimer's or cancer?

  77. Re: Not gonna happen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Enjoy your rampant unfounded paranoia. Don't worry, there will be plenty of pundit talking points for you to mindlessly parrot in 2014, too.

  78. Re:Not gonna happen by Mitchell314 · · Score: 2

    You should do your own homework too. That is nothing like the fallacy of sunken costs. The fallacy refers to when somebody invests in a course of action, and sticks to it when it is clear that the investment won't pay off. Citation: http://www.skepdic.com/sunkcost.html

    --
    I read TFA and all I got was this lousy cookie
  79. Re:Not gonna happen by Mitchell314 · · Score: 1

    Nah, those kinds of folks are still stuck on the whole "HIV doesn't cause AIDS" bs. :P

    --
    I read TFA and all I got was this lousy cookie
  80. Re:Not gonna happen by Mitchell314 · · Score: 1

    GP was wrong, but the game theory concept still holds. Sure, it is financially beneficial for the supplier to develop long term treatments, but the consequences of a competitor sweeping the market out from underneath them with a cure (or something close to it) is very great. And vice verse, if they are the ones to develop it.

    --
    I read TFA and all I got was this lousy cookie
  81. Re:Not gonna happen by kermidge · · Score: 1

    To help the uninitiated I posted this in a thread devoted to dealing with the dangers of HAARP. I repost in the fervent hope it may be of use to enhancing the safety and sagacity of those who might otherwise be afflicted.

    "There is a bit more to it. First, about the "tin-foil" - it's obvious to most, of course, that we're really speaking of aluminium foil (how that got originally termed 'tin-foil' is curious). Standard weight is OK for most.

    "Here's the trick. It really requires a sandwich or layered approach. Wear any kind of soft cloth head cover - handkerchief, skullcap, welder's cap. The hat itself starts with the foil. Then a layer of waxed paper. Then, and this is very important, a layer of Mylar (or other brand of aluminized plastic film). Over that, as the top and final layer, newsprint. The colored comics section is alright, but avoid the glossy photographs from the magazine section.

    "One last thing. If you live very near a principal Ley line, you are advised to add an additional layer each of waxed-paper and Mylar."

  82. Re:Not gonna happen by Firethorn · · Score: 1

    Actually all 3 have various benefits:
    Vaccine: It's great! You get to sell it to people who aren't even sick yet!
    Cure: You beat everybody else who only have treatments for selling it. Gotta love competitive advantage. Generally speaking the person will survive longer and buy other stuff in your line of products.
    Long-term treatment: They keep coming back, yes, but you can have problems keeping it affordable.

    --
    I don't read AC A human right
  83. Re:Not gonna happen by kaatochacha · · Score: 1

    My child is deathly ill. If, however, you give me all your savings, his life can be saved.
    Would you?

  84. Re:Not gonna happen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    When I first read about that, I thought it was a troll joke. People actually think advanced infections of HIV aren't causing AIDS? So what the fuck is? HIV kills immune cells, thus leading to a weakened immune state, or AIDS..........What the hell else would be causing it? Is it Jesus' tears? God I can't believe I share a species with some of these fucking people.

  85. Re:Not gonna happen by Mitchell314 · · Score: 3, Informative
    --
    I read TFA and all I got was this lousy cookie
  86. Re:Not gonna happen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Useless without a ground wire 10 gauge or bigger.

  87. THE GREAT SPELL CASTER THAT CURED MY HIV DISEASE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I want to share a testimony; my names are sandra I’m from Tsentralnaya Ulitsa in Russia. i was diagnose of HIV/AIDS in 2010, when i slept with a man in an hotel, along Ulitsa street. i wept throughout the day when i was told i was HIV positive i wanted to commit suicide because i was upset. i was taking some anti-HIV drugs to keep me stable of not dieing, i saw several testimonies that people gave concerning how a man call DR.ABEGBES heal there HIV/AIDS, i contacted him to help me and he told me to get some spiritual items, i did according to what he ask me and he woke me up about 11:59 and cast the healing spell and send me something to used, two days later he told me to diagnose my self again in any hospital, i went to different hospitals and the all gave me the same result that i,m HIV/AIDS negative. this man is really the best healer you can think of my mouth is full of testimony, what the doctors and the rest can not cure he cured it. DR.ABEGBES is so real. you can contact DR.ABEGBES via: DR.ABEGBESPELLHOME@gmail.com or +2348142729958 you can reach me Sandra if you want to know more. via: email-sandrasexxy@yahoo.com I want to share a testimony, my names are Sandra i,m from Tsentralnaya Ulitsa in Russia. i was diagnose of HIV/AIDS in 2010, when i slept with a man in an hotel, along Ulitsa street. i wept throughout the day when i was told i was HIV positive i wanted to commit suicide because i was upset. i was taking some anti-HIV drugs to keep me stable of not dieing, i saw several testimonies that people gave concerning how a man call DR.ABEGBES heal there HIV/AIDS, i contacted him to help me and he told me to get some spiritual items, i did according to what he ask me and he woke me up about 11:59 and cast the healing spell and send me something to used, two days later he told me to diagnose my self again in any hospital, i went to different hospitals and the all gave me the same result that I’m HIV/AIDS negative. this man is really the best healer you can think of my mouth is full of testimony, what the doctors and the rest can not cure he cured it. DR.ABEGBES is so real. you can contact DR.ABEGBES via: DR.ABEGBESPELLHOME@gmail.com or +2348142729958 you can reach me Sandra if you want to know more. Via: email-sandrasexxy@yahoo.com and even different diease like cancer T-VIRUS HIV AID ROTA-VIRUS, SMALLPOX, HEPATITIS B

  88. Re:Not gonna happen by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    Ok, that was very badly worded, of course "secret patents" are an oxymoron. What I meant is that it's possible to abuse the patent system in such a way that you don't disclose the critical parts of your invention. You simply do not patent them, knowing that your product is guarded by patents on one side and by trade secrets on the other side, ensuring that you neither have to produce it yourself if you don't want to, not allowing anyone else to do so.

    There is actually even the tactic that you avoid patenting something that would be identified easily as something everyone wants (and you do NOT want to make because it would kill your market for something else), but instead patent a step in its production that cannot be sidestepped or replaced. This is actually pretty common with pharma corporations where, for very obvious reasons, people would go crazy if they learned that you have the cure for X and don't want to produce it.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  89. Re:Not gonna happen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    US Research lead to Patents!

  90. CD4 count vs Viral Load by Guppy · · Score: 1

    If you can posit a mechanism where a vaccine against a virus might restore your tcell count but leave the virus untouched, you might have a point, but there is no such mechanism.

    Vaccine, no. But some other techniques might result in such a situation; gene-therapy to produce a functional CCR5-delta32-like state of resistance might do it, if the result was a mixed population of both altered and unaltered T-cells.

    While no succesful implementation of a therapy currently exists, the strategy is thought to be sound, given the success of the Berlin Patient example, which used a transplant of naturally occurring CCR5-delta32 bone-marrow. Unlike the Berlin Patient however (who was a leukemia patient to begin with), complete eradication of original host immune system before therapy is likely too risky for general use, which is why I think a mixed susceptible/resistant system afterwards is a more likely outcome.

    Of course, this assumes that having a population of some (instead of all) HIV-resistant T-cells is sufficient to protect against the more serious consequences of AIDS. It may not be a true assumption, given that we now know HIV has cytopathological effects beyond that of killing CD4 cells.

    1. Re:CD4 count vs Viral Load by sjames · · Score: 1

      Yes, if something like that was being tested, viral load would not be the best metric for success.

  91. how i got hiv cure with the help of prophetofscoan by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hello viewers all over the world Am fred monica, I want to testify of what prophetofscoan did for me. i was having a very notorious and serious sickness called HIV i contacted these infection from my ex husband and was very in lost of hope i never believed i was going to be cured until i meant these great man called prophetofscoan who God send to help me cure my sickness . just a few moment with these great man he cured my infection i want you to know that all hope is not lost until every thing is done if you also have these following infections contact these email prophetofscoan@gmail.com now.
    HIV/aids
    typhoid fever
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    lancer fever.
    epilency.
    lung cancer.
    and also this man can also help you in giving you a very good help just give him a try and your problems will be solved just a contact with him.once again here is his email ;prophetofscoan@gmail.com or call him +2348169340571 All thanks to prophetofscoan Regard. GOOGLUCK..........

  92. Re:Not gonna happen by rhodium_mir · · Score: 1

    close to the metal as possible

    It matters which metal though. In this inflationary post-1933 hellscape that we all live in you really can't trust the traditional coinage metals. This is why all my hats are lined with rhodium foil.

    --
    You can't spell "oneiromancy" without "roman".
  93. Re:Not gonna happen by kermidge · · Score: 1

    Yeah, you're right; I was saving that for the kits I was gonna sell.

  94. Re:Not gonna happen by dindi · · Score: 1

    Flu, MRM, probably others too. Mercury and typhoid monkey kidneys they use for the cultures are a bit of a turn-off. The lack of testing is an added plus. While MRM vaccines were tested separately, there was never a clinical trial of the mixture. And they give that to 3 year old kids in most everywhere. Some of these kids suffer serious damage to their digestive tract. Not proven but suggested by many, that this damage can be linked to the sudden onset of autism. One that in many cases can be fully or partially cured by a special diet (mostly plant based, free of chemicals).

    If it is not too "tin-foil-hat" an interesting watch on the subject is "Are Vaccines safe"..

  95. Re:Not gonna happen by Swampash · · Score: 1

    That's why I said to offer them.

  96. Re: Not gonna happen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I feel like there is already a cure for hiv/aids and other things but the world we live in is so evil and people don't want there money to stop rolling in refuse to release such a cure do you know how much the pharmaceuticals make off selling there drugs that just suppress the sickness and we stay sick and live a little longer mhm it's just said that's exactly why I do not leave my trust in man but in God with God anything can be cured forget man besides hiv. Is killing people off cause they already said we over populated and the government does a lot to keep the POP down I'm just saying....!!! And it's sad lol one more thing the world is not over populated did y'all know everybody on the planet can all live and fit comfortably on the continent of Australia and still have the other 6 continents vacant think about that so much bullshit so just live life to the fullest and be right with God and live freely and peacefully for eternity with God when your earthly visit is over...!!!

  97. Re:Not gonna happen by Petfish · · Score: 1

    No, just no. There is no evidence for vaccines causing autism and there never was. http://news.nationalgeographic.com.au/news/2013/07/130716-autism-vaccines-mccarthy-view-medicine-science/ The new McCarthyism is as bad as the old.

  98. Re: Not gonna happen by RockDoctor · · Score: 1
    Gates' contributions to funding malaria research are about the only thing that makes me uncomfportable about bashing Micro$oft ; I have to double-think and be careful to criticise Gates' business practices and software, but not the man himself.

    Not comfortable. Can Gates just go back to fricasseeing baby penguins, so we can get on with a thorough-going hate-night?

    --
    Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"