In Lab Experiment, Two Cancer Drugs Successfully Stop HIV

In lab experiments, "University of Minnesota researchers say they have found a potential new treatment for HIV, using a mixture of two anti-cancer drugs that are already on the market," Star Tribune reports. In the lab, drugs gemcitabine and decitabine were "able to stop the AIDS virus by causing it to 'mutate itself to death,' the researchers said." While the idea has not been tested on humans, "researchers say the study is encouraging because it's a new way of attacking the virus and because the drugs are not experimental -- they've already been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treating other diseases." The Star Tribune noted, however, that researchers "won't be ready to study the treatment in people for some time; the researchers are still testing it in animals and have yet to develop a pill form of the medications, which are normally given by injection" (Lerner 8/23).

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