A drug developed by the Weizmann Institute of Science which reportedly had dramatic results in the treatment of some AIDS victims, has been approved by the Health Ministry for limited use in Israel, it was announced Wednesday.
The drug, AL721, was synthesized from egg yolks six years ago by Weizmann Institute Profs. Meir Shinitzky and David Samuel for the treatment of drug addicts, the aged and children with cystic fibrosis. Though not approved for public use by the U.S. health authorities, it is being manufactured in experimental quantities by Praxis Pharmaceuticals Ltd. in Beverly Hills, Calif., under license from the Weizmann Institute.
Its effect on AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) was discovered accidentally in 1985 by an American cancer specialist, Dr. Robert Gallo, while treating a patient suffering from AIDS. Since then, Dr. Yehuda Skornik, an Israel-born American physician, has treated a number of American AIDS victims with the drug at Rokah Hospital in Tel Aviv.
REMARKABLE BUT STILL INCONCLUSIVE RESULTS
On a television appearance Tuesday, Skornik described what he said were remarkable though still inconclusive results. He said one patient, a well-known musical conductor, arrived from the U.S. too weak to leave his wheelchair. He was suffering from fever, extreme weight loss and loss of appetite and given only a few weeks to live.
But after treatment with AL721 the patient gained weight, his temperature went down and he is able to walk for miles, Skornik said. He cautioned, however, that this does not prove the drug to be a cure for AIDS but it shows an ability to reverse physical decline and bring about major improvement.
Meanwhile, the Health Ministry approved an application by Dr. Zvi Bentwich of the Kaplan Hospital in Rehovot to treat 10 AIDS patients with the drug. But the Ministry urged physicians and researchers to “go slow” and not encourage false hopes among patients in Israel and abroad.
The Weizmann Institute stressed that its scientists developed and tested AL721 long before the worldwide outbreak of AIDS and its purpose was to treat other diseases and conditions.
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