90% effective HIV vaccine developed

[Mord]

http://gizmodo.com/5844706/this-90-successful-vaccine-may-be-our-best-chance-to-eradicate-aids

This looks very promising, hopefully it'll sail through trails.

 

[soco]

I always wonder why these stories never go MEGA BREAKING NEWS style and only sit on weird websites for a while then disappear.

Subsequently, when do you think these Spanish researchers will go missing?

 

[leekohler]

I always wonder why these stories never go MEGA BREAKING NEWS style and only sit on weird websites for a while then disappear.

Subsequently, when do you think these Spanish researchers will go missing?

Lots of money to be made from HIV treatments. I'm skeptical there will ever be a viable vaccine. I always have been.

 

[jav6454]

Lots of money to be made from HIV treatments. I'm skeptical there will ever be a viable vaccine. I always have been.

That is true, but if a company believes it holds the key to huge monetary gain, do you think they will let this slide? No, its a huge investment that they will protect till death.

 

[iJohnHenry]

Subsequently, when do you think these Spanish researchers will go missing?

Do you think that God will smite them, hip and thigh??

 

[dukebound85]

Lots of money to be made from HIV treatments. I'm skeptical there will ever be a viable vaccine. I always have been.

Just curious but why do you think this?

 

[0007776]

Lots of money to be made from HIV treatments. I'm skeptical there will ever be a viable vaccine. I always have been.

There's also a ton of money to be made through a vaccine. If the argument that companies wont make vaccines because they make more money from treatment were true then why did we eradicate Smallpox, and create vaccines for a lot of other diseases?

 

[leekohler]

Just curious but why do you think this?

Capitalism.

There's also a ton of money to be made through a vaccine. If the argument that companies wont make vaccines because they make more money from treatment were true then why did we eradicate Smallpox, and create vaccines for a lot of other diseases?

If we do ever get a vaccine against HIV, I predict it comes from somewhere other than US pharmaceutical companies. They make something for everything that ails you, and doctors will prescribe pills before telling you about other non-chemical solutions to your physical problems. Why? Money. HIV means serious money in treatment medications and research cash. Pharmaceutical companies have no interest in curing anyone.

 

[leekohler]

Sorry, but this is bull, Lee. There is many US companies involved in vaccine research. Heck my company develops and markets vaccines against diseases that we make a lot of money of on treatments. Know why? Because there is A a large base of existing patients for which a vaccine won't work and B there is always enough people that will get the disease because for whatever reason they didn't get vaccinated. Double the opportunity to make money. The problem why nothing much happens on the HIV front the following (not exhaustive):

1. There is NOT a lot of money to be made in HIV anymore. Thanks to India in particular ignoring patent laws and the UN, governments and many insurance companies reimbursing for pirated products to save a buck (despite national laws) the value of HIV as a market has decreased dramatically and it becomes very risky to develop drugs at roughly 500 million a pop (minimum investment from Pre-clinical through Phase III at a 1-10% compounded chance of clinical and regulatory success)

2. Lack of obvious targets. Most of the candidates have been exhausted and many of the more complex ideas such as virus excision from DNA often fail in the later stages because the either the delivery mechanism or the drug itself can't reach all the infected cells and at a dose that is not highly toxic.

4. High rate of virus mutation. HIV's genome is very unstable which makes it difficult to identify targets stable enough to allow for an effective treatment that covers a large population. Newer concepts try to circumvent that by targeting host DNA which doesn't mutate rather than the virus itself but many of these concepts haven't made it into later stages of clinical development yet and statistically, a majority of them will not make it to or fail in Phase III.

5. Lack of understanding of the disease. While we know A LOT about HIV, there is still a lot we don't know. For example when I left research 5 years ago, it was still mystery how HIV could kill so many CD4 T-cells when only a small fraction of them was infected at any given time even during acute onset of AIDS. More progress has been made I am sure but considering that time to market for a pharmaceutical product on average is 10-15 years, you're going to have to be patient. It's amazing how much progress has been made so far in fact.

We shall see. But if what you say is true, then I will not see this happen in my lifetime. Indeed, it will probably never happen. I could be wrong about HIV, but I stand by the rest of my post.

I've been a victim of that kind of medical practice more than once. My most recent was a terrible experience with my dentist of 10 years. I had a tooth with a root canal get an abscess. He told me I had to get the root canal and crown done over again. This made me extremely suspicious, so I got a second opinion. Found out that if I had through with this, I would have been back in the same situation a year later and lost the tooth anyway. In addition, I have always had gum problems. My dentist had told me that I would need to have oral surgery. The dentist I got the second opinion form on the root canal told me that I had plaque up under my gums and that was causing the problem. I did not need oral surgery. I was also told by them that I needed to quit smoking immediately to help fix the problem. I had asked my current dentist about that and he said smoking was fine. Needless to say I ditched my dentist and went with the new one. Quit smoking, got the root canal tooth pulled and now my mouth is in very good shape. You tell me what was going on.

Also, years ago, when I was diagnosed with arthritis in my knees, my orthopedist wanted to put me on Vioxx. I flatly said, "No ***** pills. There has to be another way." At which point he said that I could try physical therapy. Well, why didn't he say that in the first place? Physical therapy worked great and I have not had a flare up in almost ten years. Oh, and look what happened with Vioxx.

Why is it that we have doctors prescribing pills as the first option and not the last. Why do we have drug reps walking into doctor's offices, offering to take them to lunch and then leaving tons of drug samples behind?

 

[0007776]

I've been a victim of that kind of medical practice more than once. My most recent was a terrible experience with my dentist of 10 years. I had a tooth with a root canal get an abscess. He told me I had to get the root canal and crown done over again. This made me extremely suspicious, so I got a second opinion. Found out that if I had through with this, I would have been back in the same situation a year later and lost the tooth anyway. In addition, I have always had gum problems. My dentist had told me that I would need to have oral surgery. The dentist I got the second opinion form on the root canal told me that I had plaque up under my gums and that was causing the problem. I did not need oral surgery. I was also told by them that I needed to quit smoking immediately to help fix the problem. I had asked my current dentist about that and he said smoking was fine. Needless to say I ditched my dentist and went with the new one. Quit smoking, got the root canal tooth pulled and now my mouth is in very good shape. You tell me what was going on.

Well I think that the fact that a dentist told you you could do it another way proves there isn't some conspiracy to extract more money from you. No way has a 100% success rate and different doctors will have different opinions about what works best based on their own and their teacher's experience. Very few people go into medicine for the money, it's too much work if you aren't there to help people get better.

 

[McGiord]

If half the effort and resources that are put on the wars and military research are used instead for solving diseases like HIV and cancer, we'll have a different story.

Unfortunately independent 'scientists' don't have enough resources or simultaneous collaboration like for example the hacker's community, like the iPhone Dev Team model, a group of talented people with a common purpose invested some time and many things are accomplished.

Why this doesn't happen in the medical field, or is not given more attention?
...It doesn't entertain.

 

[leekohler]

Well I think that the fact that a dentist told you you could do it another way proves there isn't some conspiracy to extract more money from you. No way has a 100% success rate and different doctors will have different opinions about what works best based on their own and their teacher's experience. Very few people go into medicine for the money, it's too much work if you aren't there to help people get better.

I don't think it's s conspiracy at all. I just think it's human nature.

 

[Mord]

I'm more hopeful myself, though for pessimistic reasons.

If this vaccine does work out it's something the general populous needs, antivirals are just used by people who have HIV, i'd suspect there's more money to be made from a vaccine that people may need every few years than there is with maintenance medication for people who have it, especially given the poverty most people with HIV live in.

 

[MiWall81]

Dentists

I don't think it's s conspiracy at all. I just think it's human nature.

It is human nature... Being a dentist, man I've seen a crap-load of shady work... My friends always always ask me for my advice about who's good and who's shady. I simply don't know. Some amazing trustworthy dentists work in the crappiest offices and most beautiful offices. And vice versa... I do pediatric dentistry and see many of my friends but can't squeeze them all in. Or my friends live in other cities. If a general dentist wants to do your root canal at a cheaper price don't do it unless they have a great track record. Specialists, like an endodontist will do the best RCT (root canal treatment), etc... Who knows what the situation was with you exactly...? Maybe you're intimidating and the dentist wanted to do everything in his power to save your tooth and keep you happy, versus the most practical thing and extract it and have an oral surgeon or periodontist place a dental implant...? Maybe he should have done a cost/long-term prognosis for different options... Instead of miracle dentistry and trying to save a tooth for another 1-2 years for a crap load of money in his pocket. And losing your trust. But maybe he doesn't care because he has a ton of patients...?

Gum problems tells me you need to brush your teeth and gums (soft toothbrush, not hard, hard causes gum recession) frequently, floss between your teeth every damn day (nobody listens to this, annoying...). Rinsing with warm salt water a couple times a day can help heal up the gums, as the sale in the water can kill the bad bacteria... ( we have many many strains of bacteria in our mouths, killing them is not good as they are beneficial when contained at appropriate levels. So be careful with too much Chlorohexidine, if this has been prescribed. It is good, but use only as directed...)

Just went on a rant... Sorry...! Got bored here at the office...

Ultimately, it comes down to trusting that people will do the best they can, and not be shady pieces of *****. Like most car mechanics... You just hope and pray. One day lots of people will pay for their dishonesty and taking advantage of others...