Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2001. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Bangkok Post - June 2, 2001
Kosol Satithamajit
A joint panel between the Public Health Ministry and the Salang Bunnag Foundation, whose clinic hands out the pills, will look into the drug's effectiveness in treating Aids.
Public Health Minister Sudarat Keyuraphan said the ministry would approve the distribution of V-1 Immunitor if the panel found it useful.
The decision came after a three-and-a-half-hour meeting to settle a conflict between the foundation and Aids activist groups.
Deputy Prime Minister Pithak Intaravithayanan, who chaired the meeting, said the panel would comprise Department of Communicable Disease Control head Somsong Rakpao, foundation chairman Salang Bunnag, and well-known academics.
Mr Pithak said the panel would look into the effectiveness of V-1 Immunitor before deciding whether to allow the substance to be registered, which would make its distribution legitimate.
V-1 Immunitor is registered by the Food and Drug Administration as a food supplement. Pol Gen Salang's Bang Pakong clinic in Chachoengsao has been handing it out free to HIV/Aids patients.
The ministry stepped in after learning that patients were told to stop using established drugs in favour of V-1 Immunitor.
The ministry said stopping those drugs would do more harm than good and that patients should not be misled into thinking V-I Immunitor could cure HIV/Aids until there was scientific proof.
Bangkok Senator Jon Ungphakorn, a top anti-Aids activist, said the foundation had exaggerated V-1 Immunitor's quality.
As it was not approved as a legal drug it was not safe for consumption, he said.
However, Pol Gen Salang said criticisms were motivated by self-interest. Activist groups backed established anti-Aids drugs, whose import price would be affected if V-1 Immunitor were to be registered as a legal drug.
Mrs Sudarat said there was no point in obstructing V-1 Immunitor if it could help Thailand save money from importing Aids drugs.
The foundation plans to hand out V-1 Immunitor free at the Thai-Japanese Stadium today, although the ministry has imposed curbs on its distribution campaign.
The meeting decided to allow the foundation to carry on with its campaign, on condition it was done under a doctor's supervision, and that the foundation stop calling V-1 Immunitor a drug.
It was also told to stop telling patients that it could cure Aids.
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