AEGiS-CATIE: AndroVir -- early results

AndroVir -- early results

TreatmentUpdate77 - Vol. 7, No. 7; April 1997
Sean Hosein

Background

Traditional Chinese medicine has recipes (mixtures of herbs) for treating various infections, so it should not be surprising that extracts of some of these herbs can shut down production of HIV when tested in lab experiments. One of these herbs, commonly called green chiretta (Andrographis paniculata), is being tested under the brand name AndroVir as a treatment for HIV infection. Researchers are not certain exactly how the herb works but it appears to act differently than drugs such as AZT or protease inhibitors.

Early results

In a nine week study on 16 HIV-infected subjects, AndroVir caused half of them to have:

* a 31% "increase in CD4+ cell counts"

* a 38% decrease in the amount of HIV in their blood.

The company testing the compound, Paracelsian, Inc., plans to sell AndroVir as a herbal supplement through the UK-based company East West Herbs. A year's supply of AndroVir is expected to cost about $720 US. Using revenue from sales of AndroVir, the company hopes to fund further clinical trials. Paracelsian is also testing another herbal extract for its anticancer activity.

REFERENCES:

1. Chang RS and Yeung HW. Inhibition of growth of Human Immunodeficiency Virus in vitro by crude extracts of Chinese medicinal herbs. Antiviral Research 1988;9:163-176.

2. Anonymous. Paracelsian plans AndroVir launch. SCRIP 1997;2208:23.

3. O'Grady L. Written communication (document on file).

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