Associated Press - Monday, October 19, 1998
Tom Kirchofer, Associated Press Writer

Though other AIDS patients have gone off medication and lived with manageable levels of the virus, this is believed to be the first time researchers will monitor such a case.

"There are a lot of anecdotes, but there's been really no systematic study that I'm aware of," said Dr. Clifford Lane, who plans to launch a similar study later this fall at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Nineteen other AIDS patients from around Boston will also participate in the Massachusetts General Hospital study led by Dr. Bruce Walker, including others who will stop taking the AIDS cocktail.

Walker hopes to prove that patients treated early -- before the virus kills disease-fighting cells -- would be able to stop treatment and live without the side effects, expense and hassle of drug cocktails.

While there is no way to eliminate the virus from the body, drugs have successfully lowered it to undetectable levels in many patients. But the patients suffer a variety of side effects, including dangerously high cholesterol, diabetes, kidney stones and intestinal problems.

"It could give us a better perspective on whether we can think in terms of stopping drugs," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Patients who stop taking medication risk having their conditions worsen, he said. There is also a possibility that the drugs may no longer work if the patient chooses to resume taking them.

"But it's more likely that if the virus comes back, it will come back in a manner that's sensitive to the drugs," Fauci said.

Patients who volunteer for such studies are aware of the risks, Fauci said.

Two years ago, a German man stopped taking AIDS medication against his doctors' orders. His virus remains at undetectable levels.

Walker's study could lead to effective yet less aggressive treatment methods in developing countries, which have most of the world's AIDS cases but the fewest resources to fight the disease.

Lane said he doubted less intense drug regimens would have a noticeable impact on the disease in the Third World because authorities there are still struggling to educate people on how to halt the spread of the virus.
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