Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2001. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Bangkok Post - Wednesday, August 15, 2001
Aphaluck Bhatiasevi
Fifty HIV-positive patients taking the substance have had their health checked since July for any signs of improvement.
Ban Bangprakong clinic in Chachoengsao was handing out the food supplement, an alleged Aids cure. The campaign was backed by the Salang Bunnag Foundation.
Deputy Health Minister Suraphong Suebwonglee said the ministry would tell the foundation of its initial findings, and suggest patients be checked for another 2-4 months.
The ministry set up a committee to check patients who had been taking the substance for at least six months.
With advice from 10 independent academics, the committee, chaired by Bunchai Phumibophlub, director of the Region 12 Communicable Diseases Control Centre, decided to look into V-1 Immunitor for another 2-4 months
The distributors were not allowed to portray the substance as an Aids cure, because it has only been approved as a food supplement.
Communicable Diseases Control Department head Sonsong Rakphao said he was willing to work with the Communicable Diseases Control Centre or the US Armed Forces Institute for Medical Sciences to prove V-1 Immunitor's worth, if manufacturers were willing to bear the cost.
"We want to know what the substance is. Its manufacturers say it is made of the outer cover of the Aids virus, but according to the Food and Drug Administration, it contains magnesium," he said.
On July 13, the substance received an FDA permit as a food supplement.
Nimit Tienudom, director of Access, an Aids counselling centre, said health authorities should tell the public the substance is not an Aids cure.
"It is the responsibility of health authorities to protect people's interests, and to tell people with HIV/Aids that there are alternatives they could depend on for their illness.
"They should not raise false hopes about a substance that has not been proven," he said.
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