Article by Barry Kaye: Researchers at biotechnology company Gilead Sciences reported today that, for the first time ever, a drug that inhibits the ability of the AIDS virus to replicate itself achieved a 100 percent success rate in monkeys. Photo caption: “Michael Riordan: Gilead CEO says, “It turns off the enzyme the virus uses to replicate itself.”
Comments on the research findings by Dr. Roberta Black, microbiologist with the National Institutes of Health; Dr. Michael L Riordan, the founder and CEO of Gilead Sciences; Dr. Marta Marthas of the University of California at Davis; Dr. Ashley Haase of the University of Minnesota; Dr. Anthony S Fauci, director of infectious diseases at the National Institutes of Health. The anti-AIDS medicine tested was PMPA (tenofovir), the active agent of Viread. “Such complete protection with no toxicity is unprecedented in the monkey model of AIDS,” said Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a division of the NIH.