SCIENCE / MEDICINE : Fetal AIDS Drug Holds Promise
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
An experimental AIDS drug injected into two pregnant monkeys reached their fetuses, raising hope that it might protect unborn human babies whose mothers have AIDS, a California scientist has reported.
If used early enough in pregnancy, it might ward off perinatal AIDS infection, said study co-author Daniel Capon of Genentech Inc. of South San Francisco.
The drug reached the fetuses about as easily as a human mother’s natural proteins do as they build up disease resistance within babies, researchers said.
The drug, called a CD4 immunoadhesin, has shown promise against the AIDS virus in the test tube, but its effectiveness in people is not yet known.
