MAXIMUM

 

 

• TITLE:

 

             HIV Infection Seroreversion Cases and Clinical Improvement Case Series Reporting of Patients on an Herbal   Remedy   Intervention

   (U.S. Patent Nos. 7,556,830; 7,674,483; 8,053,002; 8,067,401; 8,404,284;

other patents pending, issued and allowed)

 

          A case series report outlining a safer and more effective first-line treatment and possible cure for the vast majority of HIV-infected patients, which also serves as an adjunctive treatment for patients on antiretroviral (ARV) therapy.

 

 By: Dr. Maria Medina

 

• INTRODUCTION:

 

          Antiretrovirals (ARVS) have been the only treatment historically approved by the USFDA in controlling HIV infection.  They have been instrumental in the conversion of HIV/AIDs from a fatal disease into a chronic manageable one – at least for a time.  Unfortunately, either singly or in any combination of the six classes of antiretrovirals[1], in virtually all patients, the prospect of being cured from HIV infection with the use of antiretrovirals appears to be out of reach.  However, in a promising new development from Kenya, an herbally-based medicine is producing undoubted multiple cures, through a different mechanism of action, which is not yet fully understood, but is worthy of further evaluation and investigation.

 

         In 2013, there were two case reportings of patients who were “functionally cured” – a functional cure being defined as maintaining as undetectable viral load and normal cd4 count [2] after withdrawing treatment for as significant period of time, measured in months or years.     In a case report 14 patients in France were treated during the acute or early phase of HIV infection [3].  The scientists attributed virological remission to the early diagnosis and prompt treatment with the full regimen of three antiretrovirals during the early stage of the infection.  Whether treating all early-diagnosis HIV cases will achieve virological remission in all such patients remains to be seen.  Factors like age, poor nutrition, stress, genetics, HIV subtypes and the size of the inoculum can affect the progress of any infectious disease.

 

          In a resource-poor settings such as Kenya, and in any location where HIV+ status is still associated with stigma, many persons defer or even avoid getting tested for HIV.  In the clinic from which the instant case series reports emanate, it is often observed that patients travel considerable distances to get tested in the subject clinic just to avoid being seen near their local VCT (Voluntary Counseling and Testing) Center.  Further, around 25% of patients who get infected with HIV do not experience symptoms in the acute phase[4] and therefore progression to chronic infection occurs long before antiretroviral treatment can even be contemplated, let alone commenced.

 

          Other limitations of using antiretrovirals include their inherent toxicity.  Also, many ARV regimens eventually fail, leading to viral resistance.  A combination of additional drugs from different classes of antiretrovirals can worsen an already-existing toxic effect or add to other toxic effects.  It may also occur that, by deploying multiple ARV’s, multiply-resistant strains of HIV may develop, leading to epidemiological disaster.

 

            The case reports mentioned above may signal an improved approach to treatment of HIV in newly-infected patients in resource-rich countries, but these techniques have no relevance to those who have had the disease for years or for those already on second or third line antiretroviral regimens, in addition to having either limited or no application to resource-poor settings.

 

                           Herbal Remedy Intervention - US Patent No. 7,556,830 et. al.

 

          In 2005, a professor in chemistry from Chepkoilel Campus of Moi University, now known as Chepkoilel University, approached my husband, Mitchell Medina, an inventor with 29 US patents, with an invention.  Professor Paul Chepkwony had been experimenting with zones of inhibition created by extracts of certain traditional plants from his native Kipsigis culture on lab cultures of certain bacteria.

 

               A relative of Prof. Chepkwony had become infected with HIV, and could not tolerate ARV’s.  Prof. Chepkwony found that his relative subjectively improved when given a mixture of the 14 herbs that had the highest zones of bacterial inhibition in his lab studies.

 

               Encouraged by this serendipitous result, Prof Chepkwony began offering his herbal remedy to other HIV+ patients.  They also reported improvement.  Although Professor Chepkwony’s basis for the herb selection depended on bacterial studies instead on viral studies, even in the early stages when he was dispensing the herbal mixture, a few of the patients turned HIV-negative.

 

             A toxicity animal study was done in Moi University and was submitted to the Kenyan Pharmacy and Poisons Board. The results can be furnished upon request, but to summarize, no toxicity was found.

 

             Our team has now been dispensing Prof. Chepkwony’s herbal remedy for 9 years now.  A significant improvement to the herbal remedy was made by Dr. Maria Medina in 2010 by adding Low Dose Naltrexone to the herbal mix (See U.S. Patent No. 8,404,284; Kenya counterpart Patent 552).   Over 1000 individuals have received either the original or the improved form of the therapy.  Although all patients have been advised not to have unprotected sex, six pregnant patients have been recorded to have taken the herbal remedy from conception to delivery.  All offspring were normal and no abnormalities in their development have been reported.

 

 

 

[1]  [1] Entry Inhibitors;  [2] Fusion Inhibitors;  [3] Integrase Inhibitors (INIs);  [4] Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors: a) Nucleotide/Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors, b) Non-nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors;  [5] Protease Inhibitors (PIs); [6] Multi-class Combination Products

Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease

http://www.niaid.nih.gov/topics/HIVAIDS/Understanding/Treatment/pages/arvdrugclasses.aspx

 

 

[2] CD4+ cells  or T helper cells are the cells that the human immunodeficiency virus destroy. The normal count is 500 to 1,500 cells/mm3  of blood.

 

 

[3] Sáez-Cirión A et al. Post-Treatment HIV-1 Controllers with a Long-Term Virological Remission after the Interruption of Early Initiated Antiretroviral Therapy ANRS VISCONTI Study.  Plos Pathogens.  2013 Mar  14; doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1003211

http://www.plospathogens.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.ppat.1003211

 

 

[4] Valenti W. Acute Retroviral Syndrome: A Challenge for Primary Care

 AIDS Reader.  2008 Jun 12008;18:294-296

http://www.theaidsreader.com/display/article/1145619/1359019