Les traitements anti-sida ne prolongeraient pas la vie!
19 Dec. 2006
New AIDS
Study is Flawed and Biased
Scientists Say There's No Proof Taking
AIDS Drugs is Better Than Taking Nothing
Responding to a study on AIDS drugs published in the Nov. 30, 2006 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), scientists from the non-profit public interest group Rethinking AIDS* (RA) state the trial's conclusions are flawed and that the idea that AIDS drug interruptions are dangerous is based on unproven assumptions. According to Dr. Etienne de Harven, a pioneer in virology research and electron microscopy and President of RA, “The NEJM study does not provide evidence that taking AIDS drugs is better than not taking them. Unfortunately, incorrect conclusions drawn by the study's authors, 14 of whom recieve some form of monetary compensation from manufacturers of AIDS drugs, have been repeated in the media and touted by a number of AIDS organizations.”
In the NEJM paper, about half of the participants were assigned to take antiretroviral drugs continuously, while the others stopped taking drugs when the number of CD4 immune cells in their blood rose above a certain level (350 per cubic millimeter), and resumed taking drugs when CD4 counts dropped below 250. The study's authors concluded that people interrupting antiretroviral therapy were 2.5 times more likely to die or become ill from AIDS diseases and were also 70 per cent more likely to develop “non-AIDS-related” events such as heart, kidney or liver problems. Based on these findings, Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the U.S. National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases which funded the study, concluded that “doctors should no longer offer treatment breaks without at least monitoring the amount of virus circulating in a patient's blood. ‘I think for practical purposes, it is the end’ of treatment interruptions.”
(Suite)