X-Message-Number: 8319
Date: Sun, 15 Jun 1997 11:04:07 -0400 (EDT)
From: Charles Platt <>
Subject: Virodene

Many thanks to Randy Smith for reminding me to go check the South African 
Mail and Guardian home page. It took the journalists a while, but they 
finally made the Alcor connection:


   Virodene link to 'deep freeze' June 13, 1997
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   THERE is a local link to the Alcor Life Extension Foundation -
   researcher Olga Visser, who recently announced she had a treatment for
   Aids, has received funding from the organisation for her work in the
   field of cryonics.
   
   Visser and other researchers based at the University of Pretoria last
   year demonstrated their research at Alcor, getting a "frozen" rat's
   heart to beat again. Earlier this year, Visser was part of a team that
   announced they had found a compound that could slow the progress of
   Aids and kill the virus that causes it, HIV.
   
   They named the compound Virodene, and began testing it in trials on
   human patients. Visser said in interviews she had discovered Virodene
   by accident while doing laboratory research.
   
   The active ingredient of Virodene turned out to be a compound called
   DMF, often used in the field of organ preservation and highly toxic.
   
   The Virodene trials were accordingly called off - but Visser has not
   given up. She is presently trying to persuade the Portuguese
   authorities to allow her to conduct trials is campaigning for Virodene
   in that country.
     _________________________________________________________________
   
So, it seems Portugal will be the next lucky location for tests of 
"Virodene" on AIDS sufferers.

Meanwhile, this earlier piece--which I missed previously--explains how the 
drug was administered:


   What's the active ingredient, Jan 31, 1997
     _________________________________________________________________
   
   Lesley Cowling
   
   THE scientific community in South Africa and internationally are
   speculating that the active ingredient of Virodene is an
   industrial solvent called dimethylformamide (DMF). DMF is used in
   laboratories to "denature" DNA, a process that releases it from
   its double strand shape.

   ...
   
   One expert said that if the Virodene patches that were given to
   Aids patients in a drug trial contained DMF, that would account
   for the burning sensation patients reported. Also, the molecules of
   DMF were fairly small, which squares with Visser's explanation
   that Virodene worked because the molecules were small enough to
   penetrate the walls of cells infected with HIV.
   
   Another medical expert said DMF in the body would be able to enter
   cells and destroy the virus. However, since it causes damage to
   DNA, it is likely to cause damage to human DNA as well as the DNA
   of HIV.
   
--------------------------------

...which is what Steve Harris said, 6 months ago. I hope this is now
clear. Regardless of what we think of government agencies, bureaucracy,
and drug approval processes, it is clearly irresponsible to administer DMF
in this manner to a HEALTHY person, still less an AIDS patient. 

--CP

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