A.I.D.S. Aid: Transfusions (Press, 8 November 1989)

On 8 November 1989, it was reported that Medicorp Inc., a Canadian drug company based in Montreal, has patented a new treatment for A.I.D.S. sufferers known as passive hyperimmune therapy (P.H.T.). This therapy is said to have none of the toxic side effects associated with the most widely used A.I.D.S. medication, A.Z.T. The United States patent was granted to Medicorp the previous week for this innovative therapy, which was originally developed by Dr Abraham Karpas from Cambridge University in Britain. Medicorp acquired exclusive rights to the P.H.T. shortly after its development. The therapy is still undergoing clinical studies, but it was tested on nine A.I.D.S. patients at St Stephen's Hospital in London in 1988. Remarkably, after 15 months of treatment, six of these patients showed no detectable trace of the A.I.D.S. virus in their blood. The P.H.T. treatment involves transfusions of blood plasma taken from individuals who are infected with H.I.V., the virus responsible for A.I.D.S., but who do not exhibit symptoms of the disease. This donated plasma is believed to be rich in antibodies which, when infused into patients suffering from A.I.D.S., may help to eliminate the virus from their system. The promising results from preliminary testing have generated significant interest regarding the potential of this therapy as a safer alternative for A.I.D.S. treatment.

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