NOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND; PWA Health Group - April, 1996
Andy Young

The New Products Committee, which is made up of PWAs and doctors from our Board of Directors, met last month to discuss possible new products for the PWA Health Group. I had never attended one of these meetings and found it to be an interesting process--something that sets the Health Group apart from other buyers’ clubs. First, I compiled data, as much as there was, for the four things we were to consider: Cat’s Claw, Thymopentin, Cantharadin, and Nitazoxanide. For a product to get approved by our Board, it has to be safe to take, not cost too much, and, a fact that is sometimes overlooked, it has to do some good. Side effects are defined in three ways:

• short term side effects -- does it make you throw up?
• longer term effects -- what does it do to your liver? and third,
• effects on HIV progression, ie, can it speed up HIV replication in any way?

Cat’s Claw has interested us because it’s so popular with PWAs, and because of the anecdotal data that it is a strong antiviral, antioxidant, anti-tumor, anti-inflammatory, anti-etc., herbal compound. Part of our mission is to listen to and respond to the community’s voice and treatment decisions. Cat’s Claw is an herbal product derived from the Peruvian root, Uncaria Tormentosa. A European version called Krallendorn is prescribed as if it were a pharmaceutical, in Germany at least, but there was no data available to back up claims made by the various marketeers who want to sell it in the US. After repeated requests, the Austrian company, Immodal, gave me reports based on one, two, six patients who took Krallendorn and said they felt better. This did not make the committee, or myself, feel any better about selling this product. The problem, as I see it, is that anyone can sell almost anything and call it Cat’s Claw without having to prove what it is to anyone. Immodal was more than happy to send me info that their product had less wood pulp and no fungus in it, unlike their competitors, but they wouldn’t provide us with any information that it does anything for PWAs who take it. The committee rejected it.

Thymopentin is studied clinically in the US and is available in Italy and Germany. It’s an injectable extract based on hormones found in the thymus, the gland where T cells are produced. One reason for interest in this drug is that we may lose our Italian source for Thymosin alpha-1, another ‘thymus-stimulator’, with proven activity against chronic Hepatitis B infection. A decision on thymopentin was put on hold because at the last minute we found out that we may be able to get Thymosin alpha-1 in Singapore. Results of Thymopentin trials are encouraging, in that people who used thymopentin with AZT had fewer problems with opportunistic infections and better sustained T cell levels than those who took AZT alone, and there don’t seem to be any side effects. It’s also very expensive.

Cantharadin is the poison from a bug called the Blister Beetle. The extract burns the skin and has been in Chinese medicine for centuries to treat warts and other skin problems. It used to be available as an ointment in the US, and was used in the sixties to treat Molluscum Contagiosum in infants. The many dermatologists I spoke with said, ‘Oh, yeah. I remember that. It was just pulled from the market...I don’t know why.’ We think we can get it from Canada, to help people treat Molluscum less painfully than the endless freezing and scraping. The committee was a bit worried about Cantharadin, because in searching for info, I found many references to people who have been blinded, had heart attacks, and gotten burned terribly by swallowing the dreaded Blister Beetle. Of course this was the fault of the beetle itself, not an ointment that is 5% extract and 95% goo. But it is worth considering, huh? It also seems that some people have sold this extract as ‘Spanish Fly’- an aphrodiasiac (thank you Medline). Anyway, it’s all pretty weird, but once we have a supply, we’ll start providing it to people with a prescription, for treating Molluscum.

Nitazoxanide was discussed in the last issue of Notes as a promising treatment for the treatment of Cryptosporidia and Microsporidia. There is no effective treatment approved by the FDA for these killers, so if we could get our grubby little hands on the drug, we’d sell it in a jiffy. The problem with Nitazoxanide is that it is seemingly not for sale anywhere in the world...a significant problem. Some believe that it’s an approved vet drug in Europe, but the French veterinarian I spoke to said it had been approved, but never sold. The chief researcher at the company in the US told me that I would be "sorely disappointed" if we tried to import this drug. The committee voted that we should aggressively work to get NTZ ASAP.

Copyright © 1996 - NOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND - The PWA Health Group Newsletter. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be copied or reproduced in any form or by any means without the written permission from the PWA Health Group. NOTE: The PWA Health Group is no longer in existence, as per notification in 2003. An organization called Visionary Health Concepts has succeded them. VHConcepts is a HIV/Hepatitis+ owned and operated health education company specializing in providing free HIV & Hepatitis treatment programs For more information please contact Email: edu@vhconcepts.com. .