科学家开发防艾滋病长效药

 　　科学家开发防艾滋病长效药

　　WASHINGTON, March 4 (Xinhua) -- A single injection of an experimental drug may someday protect people from infection with the AIDS virus for up to three months, a U.S. study said Tuesday.

　　The study, published in the U.S. journal Science, showed that the drug called GSK 744LA can protect macaque monkeys from repeated intrarectal infections with the deadly SHIV, a hybrid¹ between the human and monkey AIDS virus.

　　The efficacy and safety of the drug have not been tested in humans, but David Ho, whose team at the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center in New York led the study, told Xinhua the drug may be maintained at adequate level for about three of four months in humans.

　　"Therefore, we believe the drug should be given once every quarter," said Ho, noting that their results "give a big momentum² boost to this HIV prevention effort."

　　In the new study, the researchers gave two injections of the drug to eight macaques and then "challenged" the animals by putting SHIV into their rectums once a week. They found none of the animals became infected after eight challenges.

　　In a second experiment, SHIV readily infected eight untreated control monkeys.

　　This novel approach was based on the proven strategy of protecting people who do not have HIV but are at high risk for infection with antiretroviral pills known as oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP).

　　"It has been shown already that taking anti-HIV medications once a day ... could protect high-risk individuals from catching³ HIV. However, in such an approach, most persons cannot follow the prescribed regimen with good compliance⁴/adherence⁵," said Ho.

　　"With long-acting drug like 744LA, we take away this adherence problem, with the expectation that protection results would be better," he said.

　　Robert Grant, a virologist at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), who was not involved in the study, believed that the new study "would be a game changer."

　　"This is the most exciting thing happening that I know of in HIV prevention studies today," Grant, a pioneer of oral PrEP studies in humans, told the Science journal.

　　Philip Johnson of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania, however, questioned the compliance. "This is going to require multiple injections over the lifetime of an individual, " Johnson told Science. "How feasible is it truly in the long term? "

　　Ho said while HIV vaccines⁷ that protect are "still far far away, " their approach could be used in the interim⁸ period before a protective vaccine⁶ is developed.

　　He said their next step is to proceed, together with drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline, to conduct human trials.

　　"We will soon begin a phase-2 human trial of 744LA in the U.S.. It is anticipated that we will obtain more data, including more safety information, on this long-acting drug within the next year, " he said.

　　"We are now in discussion with the company on how to ultimately proceed with clinical trials to test the protective efficacy of 744LA in high risk populations throughout the world, including in gay men in China where HIV infection rates are very high."

1 hybrid   

n.(动，植）杂种，混合物

参考例句：

• That is a hybrid perpetual rose.那是一株杂交的四季开花的蔷薇。
• The hybrid was tall,handsome,and intelligent.那混血儿高大、英俊、又聪明。

2 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。

3 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

4 compliance   

n.顺从；服从；附和；屈从

参考例句：

• I was surprised by his compliance with these terms.我对他竟然依从了这些条件而感到吃惊。
• She gave up the idea in compliance with his desire.她顺从他的愿望而放弃自己的主意。

5 adherence   

n.信奉，依附，坚持，固着

参考例句：

• He was well known for his adherence to the rules.他因遵循这些规定而出名。
• The teacher demanded adherence to the rules.老师要求学生们遵守纪律。

6 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

7 vaccines   

疫苗，痘苗( vaccine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His team are at the forefront of scientific research into vaccines. 他的小组处于疫苗科研的最前沿。
• The vaccines were kept cool in refrigerators. 疫苗放在冰箱中冷藏。

8 interim   

adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间

参考例句：

• The government is taking interim measures to help those in immediate need.政府正在采取临时措施帮助那些有立即需要的人。
• It may turn out to be an interim technology.这可能只是个过渡技术。