Promising treatment

[sejn]

Are you aware of a treatment for Hepatitis C with excellent results called the Hemopurifier? http://www.aethlonmedical.com/technology/hemopurifier.htm
Not only Hep C, but HIV and Cancer patients may benefit hugely from this promising technology.
Unfortunately, the corrupt pharma industry et al appears to be able to stop its approval for use, for this treatment has had ongoing and successful trials in India for maybe four years or longer. Many could be dying unnecessarily.

[Proactive]

you girls sound like you believe in biopharma technology, but are awfully closed minded to medical device/nanotechnology....;^)

[Trinity4]

Snort!!

[jdwithhcv]

Hey, they are hiring researchers if anyone wants a job in a failing company in sunny San Diego!

[nygirl7]

Robust viral load reductions were observed in three HCV "
What happened to the other three people, did they die or just disappear?


To me this is just absurd.  I cannot imagine doing such a thing in a billion years especially when posted by another anti-big pharma is out to kill you poster. Sorry. if there was any merit in such a device I am sure that one of us who have been to one of the leading hepto docs would have heard about it from them.  

[jmjm530]

The values resulted in an average viral load reduction of 60% when measured three days after final Hemopurifier® treatment, and an 82% reduction when measured seven days post treatment
----------
That's less than a one-log drop which could be accounted for by testing variance alone. If this is the device I remember it's been around for a number of years and unless you believe in some sort of conspiracy theory the reason it's not getting more attention is probably because it isn't working very well. FWIW there were some more interesting results that appeared to come out of Russia a couple of years ago with another type of blood purification treatment.

That said, the concept of lowering viral load pre-treatment is an interesting one that in theory might translate into more SVRs. I say "might" because it's still unclear whether artificially lowering viral load is the same as a naturally low viral load where the immune system may be ramped up. In other words is it the low viral load per say that causes more SVRs or the low viral load simply symptomatic of a more ramped up immune system that has its ebbs and flows. Lastly, I believe some have claimed that herbal treatments can lower viral loads. I'd check with Dr. Misha Cohen or Dr. ??? in NYC on that.

-- Jim

[Willy50]

For me...I dismiss the hyperbole too, but neither do I judge the company by some by the hyperbole in a virtually anonymous post.  

I'm just trying to understand the device, how it works, good or bad points and if it would/could complement current tx.  IF they could reduce VL 95% consistently and safely in a week what would there be to not like about this?  It appears that the results are uneven.  I also wonder why there were no reports on 3 who tested.  

Willy

[Trinity4]

That's the way I feel too Jeff.  Tried to make that point with the last person that was pushing viral load reduction gadgets or was it supplements.  HCV treatment has been around long enough and with enough extensive studies done to preclude that if the top hepatologists in the world or the medical community for that matter thought these devices worked it would be part of the protocol in treating HCV.  The thought that a highly regarded medical community who treat HCV would not give us every opportunity for less drugs,  less tx time and a higher SVR rate eludes me.  

[Willy50]

Looks like a small and perhaps cash strapped company trying to make it into the big time.  The idea of using some method to reduce viral load before treating is of interest to me.  This is what the company claimed it did;
==============================

"In a previous studies conducted the Fortis Hospital, six ESRD patients received a series of three, 4-hour Hemopurifier® treatments every other day during the course of one week. The treatment regimen also mirrored the patient's normal kidney dialysis schedule, allowing for the inclusion of the Hemopurifier® without disrupting dialysis treatment. Robust viral load reductions were observed in three HCV patients who completed the three-treatment protocol. Patient #1 had a 95% reduction three days post treatment and 89% reduction seven days post treatment. Patient #2 had a 85% reduction three days post treatment and 50% reduction seven days post treatment, and patient #3 had a 60% reduction three days post treatment and 83% reduction seven days post treatment.
=====================================

One would assume that there was a several log drop in several of the cases.  They don't really say, but a 95% viral load reduction would be of interest.

For me if it is safe and if it can provide that kind of viral load reduction it could possibly be linked to current treatments and provide a higher SVR rate.  It *could* mean a TX with less chemo; possibly shorter treatment times.

Being interested in it doesn't suggest I'm supporting it.  I'd just like to see more data.

The data above says that 6 treated and then it provided the results of 3 patients.  I would feel better knowing what happened to them all, if there were adverse events.  If there are risks of various types of transmission using this type of equipment and procedure.

best,
Willy

[Facta_non_verba]

The device is hardly a victim of "the corrupt pharma industry." If this worked it would be snapped up immediately by some company and brought to market. The claim that a treatment is held back because drug companies don't want the competition is used by promoters who can't scientifically prove that their drug or device works. They have to blame it on corrupt big business.

Jeff
Facta non Verba

[Trinity4]

Pfft...oh yeah reduce the viral load....here we go again down that road.

[copyman]

same old story, preying on desperate people. save your money!

[orleans]

i got land for sale

[bajawoman]

After reading the information from the link  posted and the link Willy posted  it seems to be beneficial to  reduce viral load so the patient has a better chance of SVR with standard treatment of Interferon and Riba  
They do not claim it is a cure for Hepatitis
It could be also beneficial with other viruses as well as HIV
The technology makes sense  I wish them luck  
thanks for posting it is interesting  

[fretboard]

I'm not saying that it's useless but it can't go into your liver or tissue and clean out the HepC infection.  It cleans blood, that's all it does.  It has no way of removing HepC from your body.  It can remove infections from the blood and that's a good thing, but to come on a forum and say that it can cure this that and the other is dishonest.

You may believe what you say, but I don't see how it's possible because it only removes HepC from the blood.  It does not remove HepC from the body and the human has alot of muscles, tissue, organs etc.  Can we see the clinical trial results?

  

[eureka254]

previous comment should have read "kidney dialysis" not "hemodialysis"

[eureka254]

Plus, I can't help but think of the people that have contracted hcv because of hemodialysis... this could be a monster in the making!

[eureka254]

Willy, that's a Press Release written by the company! (Owned by some guy named James Joyce, and according to Dun & Bradstreet, has a total of 5 employees.)

http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/articleid/2703581

"On September 17, 2008, Aethlon reported robust viral load reductions in tested HCV patients that completed the three Hemopurifer® treatment protocol. The outcomes were derived from consolidated viral load values of all three patients. The values resulted in an average viral load reduction of 60% when measured three days after final Hemopurifier® treatment, and an 82% reduction when measured seven days post treatment. Since this report, follow-on data provides for HCV viral load values to be calculated on an individual, patient by patient basis.

Patient #1 had a 95% reduction three days post treatment and 89% reduction seven days post treatment. The initial viral load for patient 1 was 5.3 x 10(5) viral units per ml of blood (IU/ml). Patient 1’s viral load seven days post treatment was 5.7 x 10(4) IU/ml.

Patient #2 had a 85% reduction three days post treatment and 50% reduction seven days post treatment. The initial viral load for patient 2 was 9.2 x 10(6) IU/ml. Patient 2’s viral load seven days post treatment was 4.6 x 10(6) IU/ml.

Patient #3 had a 60% reduction three days post treatment and 83% reduction seven days post treatment. The initial viral load for patient 3 was 3.0 x 10(8) IU/ml. Patient 3’s viral load seven days post treatment was 5.1 x 10(7) IU/ml. All viral load measurements were performed with real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Control samples were measured in duplicate while treatment samples were generally measured in triplicate. "

3 PATIENTS?!?  ROBUST?!? None of them even had a one log drop.  More likely opportunistic VL fluctuation than medical success.  When we see log drops in hundreds over time (not over days), I'll be interested. Until then... is it reporting time?
~eureka

[Isobella]

This would be so much nicer than 48 weeks of tx.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2008/0602-cleaning_infected_blood.htm

[fretboard]

It's a crock!!  As far as I can tell this isn't even an fda approved medical device as of yet.  It says on the website that it will be treated a a Class III medical device, when??  What good does it do?  I compare it to a person infected with HepC getting a blood transfusion, nothing will change.  It sounds like the tx that Keith Richards use to use to kick heroin.  Even to kick heroin it was a ridiculous idea.  Just cleaning blood and putting it back and thinking that you can cure HepC is ridiculous.  take your sales techniques elsewhere

[Willy50]

Read this for a description of how or why it would work- willy

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=95588&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1269792&highlight=

Thanks for posting this.  How is it that approval is not likely?  On what basis?

Willy