A Cure Within Reach

(Photo courtesy of Care Resource)
Famed researcher believes HIV/AIDS cure is on the near horizon
By Michael W. Sasser

For those old enough to remember 25 years ago, it was a very different landscape for those with HIV and AIDS. At the time, little was known about AIDS, what caused it, how it was spread and if there would ever be an effective treatment for it. For many, particularly older gay men in LGBT meccas such as San Francisco and New York, it was considered the “gay cancer” and most often, it was regarded as a death sentence.

It was in that environment that AIDS Walk Miami launched and it was not necessarily an environment that in those days brought together all aspects of the community to combat the scourge of a generation. There was misunderstanding. There was fear. But there was AIDS Walk Miami as well, for that first time, in those days when it was the condition that bore no name.

Fast-forward to 2013 and AIDS Walk Miami is celebrating its 25th anniversary, with broad community support and the general good will of a broader community that recognizes the benefits of the event and the progress that has been made since AIDS first emerged decades ago.

Among those being honored at the 25th Anniversary AIDS Walk Miami is the man who arguably has long since placed his own stamp on efforts to combat HIV/AIDS, and who has very strong thoughts on the future of addressing a condition he’s studied and worked to understand and fight.

Today, event Grand Marshal Dr. Robert C. Gallo is optimistic to a fault about progress in the struggle against HIV/AIDS, and he should know what he’s talking about. Gallo is the eminent scientist who became world famous in 1984 when he co-discovered HIV as the cause of AIDS. He is currently the founder and director of the Institute of Human Virology, which was established to create and develop a world-class center of excellence focusing on chronic viral diseases, especially HIV/AIDS and virally-linked cancers.

“There are four things I wanted to help make people aware of by participating in the Walk,” Gallo told Wire Magazine in advance of AIDS Walk Miami. “The first thing is that we have been working on a vaccine and that we are going to go into the first phase of trials in 2014.”

Gallo made clear that the work being done builds on the work of others and, furthermore, that there are others also working on a vaccine. There will be three phases of trial and there remains one particular challenge in preventing antibodies introduced into the body from dying and thus providing only short- to medium-term results.

If a potential vaccine sounds optimistic, one of Gallo’s other primary messages for South Floridians is startling.

“It is something I made a decision about long ago – that a cure was not practical, but there have been some advances in basic biochemistry, I’ve changed my mind,” Gallo said. “I think a cure is theoretically in hand, at least when it comes to people in wealthier nations. I think it may be in existence in the next five or six years.

“It’s not a novel idea, and we may not be the first to develop it, but it will be the best,” Gallo continued.

Gallo also wanted to introduce people to the Institute of Human Virology, the work it does and the role he feels the Institute can play globally.

“It’s a world organization that meets twice a year and functions not like first-responders, but rather as a resource for consultation and discussion and research,” free from the constraints that often limit the effectiveness of organizations, such as a widely-scattered focus and the intervention of governments, he said. “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) can’t be expert in everything. We saw with HIV that there were not enough experts.”

Gallo had a personal experience with the limitations of virologists just recently. “Last summer I thought I had West Nile Virus and I found out there was virtually nothing being done on it,” he said.

With funding – which Gallo said is obviously essential – the Institute could consult, conduct in-depth research and act as a resource for medical virologists. “There is a decline in the number of people going into medical virology in the future, for a lot of reasons,” he pointed out.

Finally, Gallo cited an article that he says he wrote and which has been published in the Washington D.C. area thrice. In the piece, he has argued for a domestic PEPFAR program focused on inner cities and urban areas. PEPFAR is the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, a George W. Bush administration initiative to combat HIV and AIDS overseas. As Gallo sees it, with the funding available for defending the homeland against biological attack, there should be a similar, domestic-focused program.

“If we had the program for the United States, it might not cost all that much money and it would give us a fraternal instead of paternal relationship with other countries in the world,” Gallo said. “With a program here, doctors and nurses could penetrate communities where it’s needed.”

Gallo mentioned Baltimore, Atlanta and Miami as locations where the infection rate calls for action. In fact, in an April 9 press release, Gallo revealed that the rate of new AIDS cases in the Miami/Miami Beach-Fort Lauderdale area is higher than it is in Nairobi.

“It could really help a number of cities, including Miami,” Gallo said. “I think we would be able to do much better.”

This article was originally published in Wire Magazine Issue #16, 2013