So, when it is announced that a better method of finding drugs to fight HIV has been found... yawn. Via EurekAlert:
New drug-screening method yields long-sought anti-HIV compounds The drug candidates act on a target unlikely to mutate.
The first screening test employed a technique known as fluorescence polarization to measure the ability of each compound in the library to displace the binding of the viral genome to the nucleocapsid protein. (The study focused on the virus type HIV-1, which accounts for the vast majority of HIV infections outside West Africa.) The second test, using differential scanning fluorimetry, was applied to the 101 compounds that passed the first test; it identified those that perform the displacement by binding strongly to the nucleocapsid protein rather than to the viral genome.
After eliminating the weaker and more toxic candidates with further tests, Breuer, Torbett, and their colleagues ended up with 10 compounds. Detailed analyses of these yielded two that were sufficiently powerful at inhibiting viral infectivity in cell culture tests, without being unacceptably toxic.
"We went very quickly from having a concept to having these two inhibitors with demonstrated anti-HIV activity in cells," said Torbett. [more]From AIDS.gov:
CDC estimates that more than one million people are living with HIV in the U.S.. One in five (20%) of those people living with HIV is unaware of their infection.
Despite increases in the total number of people living with HIV in the U.S. in recent years, the annual number of new HIV infections has remained relatively stable. However, new infections continue at far too high a level, with approximately 50,000 Americans becoming infected with HIV each year.Only 1 million! That's 1/3 of one percent. Lots of severe diseases are more common.
While the rampant spread of AIDS in the U.S. has been halted by better education and information and those infected have been able to live relatively normal lives, worldwide the disease has had far more devastating results. From the World Health Organization:
34 million. Well, still a small percentage of 7 billion, but not insignificant. Especially because the disease is not well treated worldwide and causes severe human and economic hardship in some areas. If this new drug testing process successfully identifies a compound that stops HIV in its tracks, it would be the most significant health achievement in the 21st century. [image]
Let's hope that the scientists at Scripps Research Institute are on to something.