Drug Taken From Rain Forest Used to Treat AIDS-Related Diarrhea

A drug isolated from the rain forests of South America is effective in treating the diarrhea that accompanies clinical AIDS and the treatment of HIV infections with drugs. The condition affects as many as 40% of AIDS patients, and it interferes with treatment because it lowers the body’s ability to absorb medicine and nutrition. Yet it receives little attention, says Dr. Mark Holodniy of the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System, because the subject is unpleasant.

Holodniy and colleagues at UC San Francisco treated 26 AIDS victims with the drug, called Provir, and 25 with a placebo. He reported at the 12th World AIDS Conference in Geneva that those treated with the drug had significantly fewer diarrhea episodes. Based on those results, the drug, made by Shaman Pharmaceuticals of South San Francisco, is entering phase 2 trials at 20 medical centers.

Reported from Geneva by Times medical writer Thomas H. Maugh II