(1/26/99)

A national group of research physicians has asked a Utah company to furnish it's patented protein whey product to see if it helps AIDS patients deal with their disease. More on the story from Science Specialist Ed Yeates.

As in cancer patients, wasting disease in AIDS patients is the killer. It's a condition where appetite dwindles, the bowels no longer absorb nutrition, and the body's muscle mass wastes away.

But almost two years ago, the first HIV positive crew on the racing boat Survivor completed the Trans Pacific Yacht Race from Los Angeles to Hawaii in ten days.

Observational studies showed in addition to drugs used to treat AIDS itself, certain kinds of natural protein whey reversed the absorption problem and helped patients rebuild weight and muscle mass.

Dr. Alan Barker, M.D., the medical director of BioMune, says, "This has a high a high concentration of glutamic acid, gluto-t, very high concentration, and this is the muscle building material. It's absorbed well."

The National Institutes of Health and the prestigous AIDS Clinical Trial Group now want to scientifically test a specific kind of protein whey. In this case they'll use BioMune's undenatured whey in clinical trials to see if it reverses wasting disease and more in AIDS patients.

Dr. Barker explains, "This has an advantage, is seeming to have a beneficial effect on healing a damaged gut, and this particular product has been demonstrated to do that."

Traditionally, this specialized physician's group has studied only pharmaceutical drugs on aids patients. But this will be the first clinical trial of a nutritional product.

Studies will involve 10 to 15 medical centers around the country. Clinical trials will set up established double blind control groups to make sure the experiment remains unbiased and the data is accurate.