French Doctors Report a Drug to Slow AIDS

Three French doctors said today that they have succeeded in “dramatically” slowing the development of AIDS by using a drug commonly given to prevent rejection of transplanted organs.

The treatment paradoxically allows the AIDS-ravaged immune system to repair itself by temporarily suppressing its function.

Drs. Philippe Even, Jean-Marie Andrieu and Alain Venet cautioned in announcing their discovery that they have tried the treatment on only six patients, beginning only a week ago. Two of the patients showed “dramatic” improvement, they said.

Andrieu said that despite the few patients tested, the “spectacular results” convinced the three doctors that their findings should immediately be made public for “ethical” reasons.

AIDS is usually fatal.

Long-Term Maintenance

While stressing that the treatment does not represent a cure, as no drug has yet been discovered to eliminate the virus, the three researchers at the Laennec Hospital in Paris say the therapy may allow long-term maintenance of AIDS-stricken patients.

The most important development, the three doctors told a news conference, is that the temporary suppression of the immune system in AIDS patients with the drug cyclosporine enables the crucial T-4 white blood cells of the immune system to redevelop.

The AIDS virus reproduces in the T-4 cells, and in doing so, kills them. Venet said cyclosporine acts on the T-4 cells, “deactivating” them and thereby preventing the AIDS virus from using the cells’ mechanisms to reproduce.

‘Dramatic ... Results’

Even said he and his colleagues have witnessed “dramatic biological results” in two patients over the last week, one of whom was suffering from the fully developed AIDS condition and considered to be near death. The other was suffering from the early phase of the disease, known as AIDS Related Complex.

AIDS, acquired immune deficiency syndrome, attacks the body’s immune system, eventually depleting it and making the body vulnerable to disease and infection.