Will there be a permanent cure for AIDS in our lifetime?

[Bowyn Aerrow]

Smallpox???

Wiped out by a global vaccination program. This is different from a cure, in fact it's better than a cure.

As Fred said... however small pox was kept in a few laboratories thus it still remains a potential threat to us humans.

The only surviving predator that really poises a threat to humanity is the lowly virus. Bacteria, Fungi, Parasites are readily wiped out with modern medicines in humans. Viruses not so much.

[azulai]

Here are some articles I've linked in the past.
Scientist Develops Virus That Targets HIV: Using a Virus to Kill a Virus

Spanish scientists trial promising HIV vaccine

Online gamers crack AIDS enzyme puzzle

I kind of stopped posting them because I didn't think anyone was really interested. :redface:

[fredv3b]

The only surviving predator that really poises a threat to humanity is the lowly virus. Bacteria, Fungi, Parasites are readily wiped out with modern medicines in humans. Viruses not so much.

The big exception to that is Malaria. A parasite, treatment is imperfect and expensive.


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[jeffrey]

I work in an industry that serves the oil and gas industry. Does anyone really believe we want the world to turn to another source of energy, thereby, causing huge numbers of people to lose good paying jobs and benefits? Of course, we don't.
I believe this is the way pharmaceutical companies view HIV and other diseases. If the United States had the same fervor we did concerning the Apollo Project, WWs I and II, and many other such things, I believe HIV would be a thing of the past; cancer too. There is a tremendous amount of money available to fight these diseases and that is part of the problem.
When asked about a patent for the polio vaccine, Jonas Saulk replied, "There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?" Well, in today's world, there is probably someone, somewhere, trying to do just that. I'm afraid the Jonas Saulks of the world are long gone. Now, it is about money and a lot of it. I'm in no way implying that the pharmaceutical companies wish anyone any harm, it's just business.
I believe the same can be said for cancer. I don't expect cures for these diseases anytime soon. My mother has lung cancer and when I take her for treatment, I'm amazed at the number of people at the clinic and this is only one clinic. Consider clinics all over the U.S. and think about how much money that amounts too. It would be an in inconceivable amount of money.
I know there are many that will disagree with me on this, and that's fine. Time will tell.

[fredv3b]

I work in an industry that serves the oil and gas industry. Does anyone really believe we want the world to turn to another source of energy, thereby, causing huge numbers of people to lose good paying jobs and benefits? Of course, we don't.

However if my company were to patent the technology for that alternative source of energy I would be a very rich man. If my rival had the technology I would be ruined.

I am sure that if the pharmaceutical industry thought that a cure for HIV was within their reasonable reach they would not dare ignore it. Even if treatment is far more profitable.



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[OrphanPip]

I work in an industry that serves the oil and gas industry. Does anyone really believe we want the world to turn to another source of energy, thereby, causing huge numbers of people to lose good paying jobs and benefits? Of course, we don't.
I believe this is the way pharmaceutical companies view HIV and other diseases. If the United States had the same fervor we did concerning the Apollo Project, WWs I and II, and many other such things, I believe HIV would be a thing of the past; cancer too. There is a tremendous amount of money available to fight these diseases and that is part of the problem.
When asked about a patent for the polio vaccine, Jonas Saulk replied, "There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?" Well, in today's world, there is probably someone, somewhere, trying to do just that. I'm afraid the Jonas Saulks of the world are long gone. Now, it is about money and a lot of it. I'm in no way implying that the pharmaceutical companies wish anyone any harm, it's just business.
I believe the same can be said for cancer. I don't expect cures for these diseases anytime soon. My mother has lung cancer and when I take her for treatment, I'm amazed at the number of people at the clinic and this is only one clinic. Consider clinics all over the U.S. and think about how much money that amounts too. It would be an in inconceivable amount of money.
I know there are many that will disagree with me on this, and that's fine. Time will tell.

The economics of it aren't that simple. Say you are Merck and you don't have any effective HIV medication on the market, your competitor (let's say Pfizer) has a very good one out and thus has most of the market for HIV treatment. If you're Merck you want to develop a vaccine or a better drug, not only because you'll make loads of money off of it, but also because it will hurt your competitor. The way patent law works, these drugs only make money for these companies in a roughly 12 year period when the drug finally gets to market. If you developed a vaccine you could corner the market on that disease for the entire 12 year period, and if you develop a recognizable brand, for much longer. There is a lot of money to be made, especially by small biotech firms, in developing a workable vaccine.

Also, a lot of this research is done in public institutions and university labs, under government funding. Places like the CDC and the NIH do most of the cutting edge research, not the drug companies (they are involved in bringing stuff to market and commercializing basic research findings).

[Person66]

Smallpox as mentioned above was never cured, but wiped out with a vaccine.
Hepatitis is still deadly, a friend of mine lost her brother in Argentina to it, and those who are rid of the disease are analogous to AIDS patients whose virus levels are undetectable do to the use of antiretroviral / protease inhibitor cocktails.

As for an HIV vaccine, this will be a hard sell as it will probably require that a weakened strain of the HIV virus itself be injected into your body. Vaccines like this might cause a small percentage to actually get the HIV virus until refined and even then a small number of people may develop AIDS-like immunity problems.

I'm not trying to be pessimistic, just stating the facts as I know them.

[fredv3b]

As for an HIV vaccine, this will be a hard sell as it will probably require that a weakened strain of the HIV virus itself be injected into your body. Vaccines like this might cause a small percentage to actually get the HIV virus until refined and even then a small number of people may develop AIDS-like immunity problems.

There are many safe live vaccines, why would a live HIV vaccine be different?


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[pellaz]

technology:
Sometimes a dorky technology is made to work, it seems to catch the eye of people and gets steady generous funding.
4example; look at the progress flash memory (non-volatile computer storage) has made last few years. It is a dorky technology. Each tiny tiny memory cell has a transistor insulated all around by an oxide layer. Electrically isolated; a very very small group of electrons are trapped there (write). Hope and prayer is this will not discharge for many years till its read. All this started way back when as an EPROM chip and now we are replacing the mechanical hard drives (except on windows computers).

We have experienced functional progress; current hiv control methods could extend a patient 40years.

Medical technology is slowed down by moral, religious concerns but just bet some under funded situation will come up with a working cure or vaccination.

[OrphanPip]

Smallpox as mentioned above was never cured, but wiped out with a vaccine.
Hepatitis is still deadly, a friend of mine lost her brother in Argentina to it, and those who are rid of the disease are analogous to AIDS patients whose virus levels are undetectable do to the use of antiretroviral / protease inhibitor cocktails.

As for an HIV vaccine, this will be a hard sell as it will probably require that a weakened strain of the HIV virus itself be injected into your body. Vaccines like this might cause a small percentage to actually get the HIV virus until refined and even then a small number of people may develop AIDS-like immunity problems.

I'm not trying to be pessimistic, just stating the facts as I know them.

Well vaccine technology is advancing rapidly. For example, the Gardasil vaccine for HPV is a VLP (virus like particle) vaccine that is essentially a manufactured virus without any DNA (thus incapable of replicating). Unfortunately, the real problem with HIV is that antibodies against HIV virus antigens do not confer immunity. So, live or killed, the usual logic behind a vaccine doesn't work with HIV. The fact that HIV infects T-cells, which are an important part of adaptive immune response, doesn't help things either.