British defence giant BAE Systems is backing human trials in South Africa of a Russian-designed radiation machine touted as a radical new treatment for HIV/Aids.
In the strangest spin-off yet from South Africa’s arms deal, BAE Systems has pumped R24-million into Hivex, a KwaZulu-Natal company formed in 2000 to develop and market the Russian technology. The machine is supposed to use electromagnetic radiation to damage the ability of the HI virus to attack the CD4 blood cells that are crucial to the body’s immune system. But scientists have raised serious doubts about the likely efficacy of the radiation treatment, with respected international Aids researcher Slim Abdool-Karim dismissing the idea as unworkable.
Nevertheless, Hivex appears to have political backing. The government has approved the $3-million investment as part of BAE-Saab’s offset obligations under the arms deal. The company has also attracted the University of Natal’s Nelson Mandela medical school to conduct clinical trials on 360 HIV-infected patients. The trials will begin next week, though it is unclear if safety trials have been conducted. Enquiries by the Mail & Guardian led to a crisis meeting in Johannesburg yesterday between representatives of Hivex, the medical school and BAE. They released a joint press release to pre-empt the M&G report.
The groups claim that the proposed treatment has been licensed for clinical trials by the state Radiation Control Authority and the university’s ethics committee. ”Our treatment relies on a highly developed use of electromagnetic technology. Our studies so far show that it neither prevents nor cures HIV and Aids, but it appears to be able to neutralise them.
The exact details of this approach must for the moment, unfortunately, remain confidential and are the subject of the studies,” Hivex CEO Cameron Scott was quoted as saying.
Specific questions posed by the M&G went unanswered. Medical school dean Barry Kistnasamy promised that the clinical trials of the Hivex treatment would be independent.
”We are conducting these trials under precisely the same strict scientific conditions we apply to all clinical trials and research, regardless of who has conducted or financed the research and development of the proposed treatment,” said Kistnasamy.
Hivex pays for 20% of Kistnasamy’s time, which has raised concerns about ”cheque-book science”. Kistnasamy has no HIV/Aids expertise and has done almost no published research of any kind. Hivex is also paying other members of the medical school for their time on this project. Questions to BAE and Hivex about who brought them together went unanswered.
Nhlanhla Gasa, who is listed as a Hivex director, denied any knowledge of the company, though co-director Brent Buxton confirmed his involvement. Gasa is a prominent businessman with directorships in at least one company, Vulindlela, which has been linked to ANC interests through Durban’s Point Waterfront development.
Hivex has a chequered history. In 2000 its directors tried to place commercial advertisements stating that their machine was effective in treating — though not curing — HIV/Aids. When challenged, they claimed to have support from the provincial Department of Health.
Provincial MEC of Health Zweli Mkhize distanced himself from the treatment after media enquiries, and health-department officials stepped in to seal the equipment until Radiation Control Authority approval had been obtained.
At the time, Stuart James, one of the directors, claimed treatment with the machine had caused a ”conspicuous” improvement for 90% of the 65 Aids patients who had been treated. Abdool-Karim, a professor and one of the country’s leading Aids experts, has poured cold water on the claims. ”As a researcher with 16 years of Aids research I think this technology is not going to work.
”In 2000 I was asked by a legal firm representing a potential investor to give a scientific opinion. I attended a meeting for potential investors at which there were a lot of testimonies given by people who said they were doing much better after treatment. They gave us some information on how the thing works. My advice was that I did not think this treatment would work.”
Abdool-Karim said he had later had access to clinical and pre-clinical data on previous research done into the Russian machine, and was more convinced his initial doubts were justified.
”However, at a university we believe in academic freedom and if someone thinks this is worth researching then I have no problem, provided it’s done rigorously, properly, ethically. After all, I have been wrong about other things and I could be wrong about this.”
He said the claim made for the machine was that it used electromagnetic waves to treat Aids.
”The fact that electromagnetic radiation can denature DNA is well known. It is theoretically possible to generate waves at the right frequency to, say, break the disulphide bonds on a protein that has a particular conformation [such as HIV], but whether this is practically possible is another matter.”