Monday, November 24, 1997
Time’s Man of the Year speaks at AIDS symposium
HEALTH:
Former UCLA
resident returns to alma mater to discuss optionsBy J. Sharon
Yee
Daily Bruin Contributor
In front of a crowded audience of students, faculty and
researchers, Time Magazine’s 1996 Man of the Year discussed on
Friday the increasing role of drugs in AIDS therapy research.
Dr. David D. Ho, who gained national attention and recognition
after discovering the so-called "triple-drug combination therapy,"
spoke in one segment of the Sixth Annual UCLA AIDS Symposium held
at the Anderson School.
The therapy, which combines the use of new drugs called protease
inhibitors along with standard antiviral medications like AZT, has
been proven to reduce the deterioration process, especially if
given in the early stages of the disease.
Ho, a former medical UCLA medical resident and current director
of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center in New York, addressed
issues of HIV-cell replication and viral dynamics in his noon
talk.
"Drugs used individually today are doomed to fail," he said. "It
is crucially important to develop new drugs.
"The biggest advances continue to be in developing new
therapies."
"For the last 10 to 15 years, AIDS has epitomized the ability of
the government, community, academia and business to work together
to generate effective drugs, which is a real accomplishment,
despite the fact that they are not cures," said Dr. Irvin S.Y.
Chen, director of the UCLA AIDS Institute, in an opening
speech.
Themed "Good Science is Good Business," the conference
highlighted the latest research on AIDS and HIV-related diseases
and fostered communication between researchers and representatives
from pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporations like Chiron and
Agouron Pharmaceuticals.
"It is very important to encourage collaboration between all
university-based research and biotechnology industries because as
the years pass, the cost of research increases, but federal funding
for universities holds constant," said Duke Bristow, meeting
organizer of the symposium and resident fellow of the Price Center
for Entrepreneurial Studies at Anderson.
Other speakers included Dr. Neil J. Clendeninn, vice president
and head of clinical affairs at Agouron Pharmaceuticals, and Dr.
Lawrence M. Souza, senior vice president of research of Agmen.
"What we are seeing is that patients who are on these drugs are
doing a lot better clinically," Clendeninn said, referring to Ho’s
triple-combination therapy.
"In L.A. alone, a lot of the AIDS wards and hospitals are
closing because of this combination therapy that we are able to
give," he added.
Discussing the role of academic and industry cooperation, Ho
praised the efforts of UCLA researchers.
"I think UCLA’s ability to organize AIDS research into a
separate institute is a very unique one," said Ho.
"However, UCLA is also an institute without walls," he added.
"Traditionally, university research has had a reputation for having
no organized cooperation, where a free-for-all atmosphere
exists."
"I think there is a need to adopt some kind of organization
similar to that of biotech and pharmaceutical industries at the
academic level," he concluded.
Recently, President Clinton made a statement about being able to
discover an AIDS vaccine within the next ten years.
Ho, who in the last year has shifted more than half of his
research into developing a vaccine, considered this "a reasonable
objective," because there has been "significant progress in that
field on a basic science level."
"We know it’s possible," he added. "We just need to get there
with the safest, best possible approach."
Both students and researchers alike viewed Ho as a role model
for AIDS research.
"I really enjoy his direct, clinical approach at developing new
treatments for AIDS patients," said Charles Chiu, a fifth-year
doctoral student in the Medical Science Training Program.
"David had his first faculty position at UCLA’s School of
Medicine back in the early ’80s," Chen said. "It’s great to have
him back again as Time’s Man of the Year."
Having spent the last 16 years working on AIDS research, Ho has
seen both progress and setbacks in the search to eradicate the
devastating effects of the disease. Nevertheless, he is optimistic
about the future.
"In the long run, I think AIDS will become a more manageable
disease," he said. "Now the goal of finding a cure has become a
very tangible one."
With reports from Bruin contributor H. Jayne Ahn.
RACHEL FACTOR
David Ho is the director of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research
Center.