New AIDS Drug Developer Announces "Fund the Cure" Campaign

IAB contact:   
Sherrie McMahon   
The Institute for Applied Biomedicine   
831/454-9147   
P. O. Box 7423   
Santa Cruz, CA 95061      
smcmahon@appliedbiomed.org   

Fund the Cure contact:
Thubten Comerford
Virtual Office/Fax:
888/633-6160
P. O. Box 251762
Little Rock, AR 72225
thubten@appliedbiomed.org

FOR RELEASE - NOT BEFORE MARCH 8, 2000

New AIDS Drug Developer Announces "Fund the Cure" Campaign

SANTA CRUZ, CA (March 8, 2000)-Institute for Applied Biomedicine. The revolutionary AIDS drug development firm, the Institute for Applied Biomedicine, announced last night the launch of its $4 million "Fund the Cure" campaign. The money raised in this fund-raising effort will finance the FDA testing of the Institute's new drug, Immudel-gp120 (TM), which the Institute believes will cure AIDS.

"After this drug passes FDA testing-and given the results of recent pilot tests, we're confident that it will-there should be no reason for an HIV infection to cause a person's immune system to collapse," said Jay Chaplin, the drug's inventor and the Institute's lead scientist.

"Fund the Cure" is an international tour introducing the Institute's proposed new HIV infection model and the Immudel-gp120 (TM) drug, outlining a variety of ways in which companies and individuals can participate. Internet users, for example, can contribute directly from the Fund the Cure web site: www.fundthecure.org. The standard pledge is for $1 per day for one year, totaling $365. It will take on only 11,000 people participating in the dollar-a-day pledge program to meet the $4 million goal.

A tour launch party was held at Graffiti's restaurant on Tuesday evening in Little Rock, Arkansas, the home base of the two year "Fund the Cure" tour. Although it may seem an unlikely home for a national AIDS-related organization, campaign coordinator Thubten Comerford feels Little Rock is a natural choice. "Fund the Cure is a web-based grass-roots campaign and driving tour. To operate the tour most efficiently, reach the most people, and maximize our efforts, it's important that our headquarters be centrally located."

The revolutionary drug, Immudel-gp120 (TM), shows great promise for the future of HIV treatment. Unlike the current therapies, it should be injected once a month. Current anti-HIV drugs must be taken several times every day, and can cause serious side effects such as hemolytic anemia, dangerous fat deposits, diabetes, and chronic nausea, among others. Immudel-gp120 (TM) is expected at worst to cause fever-like symptoms (sweating, aching joints, etc.) for about an hour after injection. No other side effects are predicted, but nothing is certain until it is tested in humans.

Immudel-gp120 is a trademark of the Institute for Applied Biomedicine.

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