Thailand company ready to manufacture AIDS Drugs

Accra, Oct. 24, GNA - A Thailand-based organisation, Immunitor Corporation Company Limited on Friday expressed interest in transferring technology into Ghana for the production of an HIV/AIDS therapeutic drug to prolong the lives of patients.

Dr. Aldar Bourinbaiar, the Scientific Director of the company, said the V-1 immunitor drug, already in the country, has been tested in clinical trials in 26 African countries with Ghana being the only African country to have registered it with the Food and Drugs Board.

Speaking at a two-day Conference on AIDS in Africa organised by a non-governmental organisation, Miracle Rock Foundation, (MIROF) in Accra, Dr Bourinbaiar said V-1 has been taken by some 67,000 persons world-wide with 2000 of them in Africa.

He said it has helped in dealing with opportunistic infections such as oral thrush, loss of appetite weight loss, diarrhoea and skin lesions and diseases associated with the AIDS virus.

He said a Thailand medical resarch organisation, Ban Bangpakong Clinic, where the V-I was developed, had done enough research and clinical trials to prove that the drug contained no toxic material and did not have any effect on chronic users.

Dr. Bourinbaiar said Ghana could benefit from the technology, if government was prepared to sink money into building factory, following, which the Thailand company would transfer the technology within six months when the go-ahead was given.

He said, the drug separated the virus and rendered it inactive thus helping to boost the immune system of HIV patients. Dr. Bourinbaiar, who is also an international researcher into AIDS vaccines, said so far there was still no cure for the AIDS, after over 70 international vaccine clinical trials.

He said patients in Nigeria, Kenya, Togo and other countries in Africa have taken V-1 drugs, which cost between 20 to 30 dollars a pack. Some of the drugs would be made available to the Ghana AIDS Commission, persons living with AIDS and non-governmental organisations in the country.

The Reverend Charles Abban, President of MIROF, told the conference that there has been progress in efforts to deal with the AIDS pandemic and there was hope that everybody would rise up to the challenges ahead to curb the spread of the disease.