A traditional Chinese medicinal capsule capable of treating
HIV/AIDS has been put under clinical test with the approval of the
State Food and Drug
Administration.
Chen Dagang, inventor of the capsule and leader in charge of the
clinical test, said the clinical test had been carried out in a
number of medical establishments in Beijing, including You'an
Hospital, the No. 302 Hospital of the Chinese People's Liberation
Army, Peking Union Medical College Hospital and Ditan Hospital
since July 7, and the test would be completed in nine months.
Pre-stage research in the past five years proves that the
capsule, made from 16 kinds of medicinal herbs, is capable of
restraining HIV integration enzyme from outside the human body and
curbing the virus from duplication inside the infected cell,
according to Chen.
Integration enzyme is the third essential element for HIV
duplication, or in other words, HIV without integration enzyme is
not infectious, said Chen, adding that his capsule, like any other
synthetic drugs, had to overcome drug-resistant substance occurring
in the process of usage as of the first-generation anti-retrovirus
medicine, which might gradually lead to a weakened treatment
effect.
(Xinhua News Agency July 31, 2005)