Met a fellow who actually works with the company that is developing an HIV vaccine.
Today I stopped at Java Boys; a coffee shop in Wilton Manors and had a very enlightening encounter with a fellow who works for Georgia based GeoVax. As he told me what he did for a living my curiosity was awakened. He said that he had a job with a biochemical company that was actually developing a vaccine for the prevention of HIV.
As I have heard more than once before the existence of some vaccine and have yet to see any of them offer conclusive evidence of their efficacy, I got to question him further and he guaranteed me that the vaccine has had ample success in lab studies and that there is not just this vaccine design to protect from HIV infections but they are also working on one that will cure the entire illness even after infection.
I told him that it was hard to believe and he directed me to their web site, which I am going to list below. If what he is saying is true, then those drug manufacturers who have been making a killing on these retrovirals are going to either go out of business or finally bring down the price of HIV drugs. He said that the cost would be somewhere around $600 every five years…Hard to believe but I am optimistic at this point…no company puts out a web site and sells its stock unless they were really on to something.
“Specializing in development of vaccines against diseases for which none currently exist, GeoVax has reported considerable success with its vaccine for HIV/ AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Disease Syndrome). This is a fairly new startup biotech company that has potential to break into the world market in the next couple of years, should the currently running human clinical studies prove successful. The company, originally GeoVax Inc., was founded in 2001 in Georgia, as a means to commercialize the research of Dr. Harriet Robinson and others at the Emory University in Atlanta, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).”
I also see their affiliation with the prestigious Emory University and Georgia Tech Universities which helped develop the vaccine technology developed by GeoVax and was licensed by Emory University, giving them rights to 21 issued or pending patents.
Human Clinical Trials
GeoVax claims to have had the most success, in large-scale non-human primate trials, of all the known companies doing similar research. The HIV vaccines are the product of over 10 years of research using monkey models. They were 96% effective in a study using primates, protecting 22 of 23 subjects for over 3.5 years after infection with HIV. Although the vaccine did not prevent infection, it kept the virus at nearly undetectable levels for months after infection, long after unvaccinated control animals had 
succumbed to the disease.
In 2006, GeoVax began a second round of clinical trials on HIV vaccines applied to human subjects in the USA. The first human trials concluded, with promising results, in 2004. Current trials on humans are testing different dosages and combinations of vaccines. However, the competitiveness of the GeoVax technology comes from the use of only two injections as opposed to other leading candidates which require multiple injections of a combination of drugs. The technology is based on a two-part "prime-boost" approached designed to induce the human immune system, specifically T-cells and antibodies, to attack the AIDS (HIV-1) virus. Immunity is based on the recognition of proteins expressed by the DNA “prime” injection and the booster vaccination, consisting of a recombinant pox virus, also expressing certain HIV proteins.
The clinical studies are being performed in association with the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN), a network sponsored by the NIH. GeoVax is also considering extending vaccine trials to AIDS endemic areas such as India and Africa.
It is estimated that the global market for an AIDS vaccine is in the billions of dollars. The Company's common stock is quoted on the NASDAQ OTCBB under the symbol GOVX.OB.
THE WEB SITE: http://biotech.about.com/od/casestudies/a/GeoVax.htm and
PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.animalcrueltyworldwide.com/Research-Animals-Suffer-Die/images/
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v445/n7125/images/445242a-
COULD THIS BE THE CURE FOR HIV?
HIV Breakthrough With Existing FDA-Approved Meds
Scientists at the University of Minnesota believe that two existing FDA-approved cancer medications may work jointly to eliminate HIV infections.
The two drugs, decitabine and gemcitabine -- both FDA approved and currently used in pre-cancer and cancer therapy -- were found to eliminate HIV infection in the mouse model by causing the virus to mutate itself to death -- an outcome researchers dubbed "lethal mutagenesis." This is a landmark finding in HIV research because it is the first time this novel approach has been used to attack the deadly virus without causing toxic side effects. Because decitabine and gemcitabine are already FDA approved, researchers believe that if their research is effective in large animal models, it will be much easier to expedite the development of the drugs for human use.
Researchers found that the drugs caused no cell toxicity and were effective against HIV in levels below "well below" those used for cancer. The drugs are now being reformulated for oral use.
SOURCE: http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2010/08/researchers-made-hiv-breakthrough-with.html
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