Kemri's TMR5

ちょっと魅力的な記事（？）かもしれませんが…、




ケニア医療研究施設（KEMRI）がハーブを用いた治療薬の開発最終段階にある


との記事を見つけました。



最初目にしたときには、

「おおっ、とうとうケニアもキタか！」

という感じだったのですが…。

どやら、現在のところマウスやギニーピッグを使った動物実験結果が明らかになったところのようですが、現地のハーブから抽出されたTMR5を軟膏の状態で一日三回使用してみたところ、「患部が完全に消失した」ということのようです。

しかしながら、この研究施設…、以前に何かいかがわしいことをやらかしたようでして…、

実は、1990年ごろにこの研究施設、「HIVに非常に効果的な治療薬を開発した！」と公表し、一躍注目を集めたようなのですが、一部の研究者からは、

「あまりに結果がキレイすぎる…」

ということで疑問視されていたようなんです…。

その後、明らかになったことのようですが、実は、プラセボ（偽薬）や他の治療薬などとの比較検証を全く行っていなかったようでして、他の研究機関で検証してみたところ、効果が否定されたようなんです…。

まぁ、記事を読んでみても、「どういう技術や理論に基づいているのかわからない」ですし、「動物実験の段階なのに、何で最終段階なの？」という疑問にも「？？」という感じなので、今回の記事についてはかなりの「眉唾もの」かもしれませんね…（笑）


Kenya Medical Research Institute In 'Final Stages' of Development Herpes Drug

Written by Admin Courtesy Behind the Mask

http://www.freedominspeech.org/component/content/article/353-kenya-medical-research-institute-in-final-stages-of-development-herpes-drug.html

Wednesday, 12 October 2011 10:02

Scientists at the Kenya Medical Research Institute, Kemri, say they are in the final stages of testing a herbal drug they developed to treat the herpes simplex virus. Kemri said they had made “conclusive progress.”

Herpes simplex virus is a viral infection, caused by a group of herpes viruses that may produce cold sores, genital inflammation, or conjunctivitis. Symptoms include genital irritation, ulcers, vaginal discharge, and painful urination.

The lesions left by the virus and its ability to attract immune cells that provide easy entry to HIV provide an easy target.

The drug named TMR5 (Zedupex TM) has been evaluated for pre clinical safety in mice and guinea pigs and that the results indicate that the drug is safe for mammalian use.

TMR5 has undergone about 10 years of research and study at Kemri. The drug is derived from a local Kenyan herb and when subjected to the virus, it stopped replication even of resistant strains.

The drug was developed in a pilot project in cream form and when applied on the lesions caused by the herpes virus three times a day it cleared completely.

Researchers from KEMRI are now preparing for clinical trials and once the drugs are cleared for use, they will be available herbal tea form, creams or a lyophilised preparation (jelly).

Dr Festus Tolo, a senior researcher for the centre for traditional medicine and drug research CTMDR at Kemri said, “This drug is a milestone discovery that will completely change the treatment regiment for the dreaded herpes virus, which is one of the opportunistic infections in HIV and Aids.”

According to reports, the Kenya Aids Indicator Survey, KAIS, in 2007 shows more than seven million Kenyans are infected with the virus, known to provide the right environment for HIV infection.

The survey reports, “The rates of HSV-2 in Kenya are much higher than general population estimates for most countries in other regions of the world.”

According to KAIS, about seven million Kenyans aged between 15 and 64 years are infected with the virus.

Meanwhile some Kenyans with long memories may be a little wary of Kemri’s claims when they recall how similar claims in 1990 about a drug called Kemron unveiled with fanfare and nationalistic triumph as an Aids treatment.

At the time the then head of Kemri, Dr Davy Koech announced what he called a ”remarkable recovery” in AIDS patients treated with Kemron saying that on average by the eighth week of treatment symptoms were alleviated in almost all the patients.

According to a report in the New York Times newspaper at the time, the institute’s newsletter, which headlined Kemron as ”A Miracle Drug against Aids” said, ”Most striking, about 10 per cent of the patients actually tested negative for the antibody that is associated with the Aids virus.” The newsletter went on: ”The only side effect reported during the 10-month study was an increased appetite in the majority of patients.”

Soon however, sceptical scientists said the research results, so uniformly positive, seemed almost too good to be true, and noted that the institute had not conducted controlled trials in which Kemron would be compared with other treatments like AZT (the only antiviral drug licensed for use against AIDS in Western countries in those early days) or dummy pills.

In the end Kemron was found to be ineffective and the whole story became a huge embarrassment for Kemri and Kenya.