Find new ways to stop the development of AIDS

Chinese scientists have found a drug that can stop the reproduction of HIV and provide a new way of controlling and eliminating viruses caused by the disease.

A team of researchers led by Shen Binghui, professor of life science at Zhejiang University, China, found a drug containing pentamidine , capable of cutting HIV life cycles, preventing re- Production of viruses and helps protect the body's immune system.

AIDS virus model

According to scientists, HIV has an average incubation period of about 10 years, in which the virus will infect immune cells, while using cells and proteins to reproduce and spread, gradually making Damage to the immune system. Until the immune system can't fight off the virus, symptoms begin to appear.

Research has shown a human protein called FEN-1 has a crucial function in the reproductive process of HIV .

Professor Shen said his team found the drug could stop the reproduction of HIV by destroying proteins. At that time, viruses cannot cause any harm to the immune system once it cannot reproduce, and they can even be eliminated by a healthy immune system.

Currently, the most popular treatment is " cocktail therapies ", which is relatively advanced and effective, but very expensive, the cost per patient averages about $ 22,000 per year. Shen said the drug his team studied could significantly reduce treatment costs.

Earlier, the US App Pharmaceuticals Company, for the first time, developed drugs in the form of an aerosol called ' nebupent ' to treat lung infections caused by AIDS . And the drug was approved and put into production by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1989, but its patent expired.

To improve the performance of the drug, Chinese researchers changed the form of the drug from a spray bottle to a capsule. And this drug will soon be clinically tested in the US with more than 80 volunteers.

Scientists say it will take at least 8-10 years of testing for the drug, then bring it to market.

The AIDS epidemic was first discovered in 1981 , after which it spread all over the world, about 34 million people were infected with HIV globally in 2010 and AIDS is currently one of the causes of death. leading death world.