Is it time to give up hope for curing AIDS?

Cynical response #1 - When the cost of existing AIDS treatment regimens can approach $30K per year per patient why would any pharmacutical company want to find a cure when treatment is so profitable?

Cynical response #2

See cynical response #1

Cynical response #3

Cancer is an even better money maker for SOME "non-profits".


American Cancer Society: The World's Wealthiest "Nonprofit" Institution

In 1992, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reported that the ACS was "more interested in accumulating wealth than in saving lives." Fund-raising appeals
routinely stated that the ACS needed more funds to support its cancer programs, all the while holding more than $750 million in cash and real estate assets (3). A 1992 article in the Wall Street Journal, by Thomas DiLorenzo, professor of economics at Loyola College and veteran investigator of nonprofit organizations, revealed that the Texas affiliate of the ACS owned more than $11 million worth of assets in land and real estate, as well as more than 56 vehicles, including 11 Ford Crown Victorias for senior executives and 45 other cars assigned to staff members. Arizona's ACS chapter spent less than 10 percent of its funds on direct community cancer services. In California, the figure was 11 percent, and under 9 percent in Missouri (4):

Thus for every $1 spent on direct service, approximately $6.40 is spent on compensation and overhead. In all ten states, salaries and fringe benefits are by far the largest single budget items, a surprising fact in light of the characterization of the appeals, which stress an urgent and critical need for donations to provide cancer services.

Nationally, only 16 percent or less of all money raised is spent on direct services to cancer victims, like driving cancer patients from the hospital after chemotherapy and providing pain medication.

Most of the funds raised by the ACS go to pay overhead, salaries, fringe benefits, and travel expenses of its national executives in Atlanta. They also go to pay chief executive officers, who earn six-figure salaries in several states, and the hundreds of other employees who work out of some 3,000 regional offices nationwide. The typical ACS affiliate, which helps raise the money for the national office, spends more than 52 percent of its budget on salaries, pensions, fringe benefits, and overhead for its own employees. Salaries and overhead for most ACS affiliates also exceeded 50 percent, although most direct community services are handled by unpaid volunteers. DiLorenzo summed up his findings by emphasizing the hoarding of funds by the ACS (4):

http://www.preventcancer.com/losing/acs/wealthiest_link...

The Bill Gates foundation is encouraging scientists to throw preconceived notions out the window and try unconventional approaches to curing AIDS.

While I am not a scientist, my science fiction dream involves nanobots. Microscopic robots could be programmed to seek out the virus and destroy it.

If anything, I think this should prompt even harder work on the subject. Maybe all the weight-loss scientists and their ilk can be asked to join the search, since they're all so very smart.

I think not. Many people are dying from it everyday and technology and medicine is becoming more advance so I believe that within time there would be a cure if people keep pushing for it.

If you look at this link there always was a cure..but as usual its covered up http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECV52iiLbRM this was featured recently but never got the recognition it deserves...lets hope and pray someone will take some notice....

scientists provide research for the highest bidder -- there are too many people benefiting that are healthy and happy...I wish they could see this disease first hand, then maybe money will be focused on the research that will heal rather than mask this disease.

Keep fighting!!!

If we give up finding the cure for AIDs we have to give up finding the cure for Cancer too. Does that in ANY WAY sound in the LEAST BIT reasonable. NO! We spend money on a host of frivolous things however this is not one them. Keep pushing keep hoping. Do NOT give up. If we give up hope we will have to justify the billions of deaths that will ensue. AND THAT WILL BE IMPOSSIBLE!!

No, it's not time to give up the search for a cure, though perhaps it's time to spend more on informing about and preventing the disease. Perhaps it's time for the right wing christians to realize that the world of the bible is not the world of today. So much work needs to be done in Africa and America and it needs to be more than "abstinence-only" education.

On a more cynical note, I also think it's time to remove the pharmacutical companies from the equation. That was an interesting quote about the American Cancer Society as well. These agencies are well entrenched and making an enormous profit from the status quo. We need to take them out of the research equation.

For goodness sakes, we went from first powered flight to landing on the moon within 70 years. the fact that we HAVEN'T found cures is what should be raising eyebrows.

It would be morally irresponsible to give up find a cure for AIDS just because it's difficult.

On another note, what makes you think they don't have a curing treatment that they are witholding? Mcwally linked to a good vid about AIDS to watch, and you can find more from there.

Here it is a continuing human Spiritual and physical challenge. To respond to Aids no institution or individuals should play with the same brutal rules of the financial game out there. I read that Brasil is using very unconventional methods to abate this disease that has plagued our society. If a person believes in GOD, at least he or she has learned that the only way to live in peace and in productivity is by "loving one another," as Jesus said, then there will be a chance to change this brutal reality. There is not other way, believe me. You will hit your head against the wall many times on this one and I sincerely with all my heart want to spare your head from been smashed, if you give me an opportunity to show you the way. To respond to AIDs we need to change our way of thinking and acting by start to give subsidized Health Care and medicine to all in this Country. When I say, all people, I mean children, teens, adults and the elderly. Please, do not play games with it as many politicians did in the past. Many, not all pharmaceutics institutions are stealing from the public for long time. They can afford to pay that money back big time. Their mentality is that needs to change. Keep talking, keep exposing, keep pressing, never give up or stop. You will succeed!

No, absolutely not.
Do we give up on saving people in Tibet or Darfur, because of the genocide?

We must never turn our backs on the sick and dying, we are stronger than that. It is a crucial time for science and education with the recent discovery of microbicides, a new cream that protects against HIV/AIDS. This is revolutionary for countries like Africa, where condoms aren't culturally accepted and were recently outlawed in Zimbabwe.

See article on microbicides:
http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWE...

For more info go to:
www.global-campaign.org

Sorry for the typos and short writings there. I am trying to use the editing pad as much as I can. Otherwise I am on to the other tasks and writing direct on this box gets you on the lost alley sometimes. Therefore my apologies if It does not make sense initially when you receive the message in your mail box. Come back here to read the whole story as, by the time you arrive, I'll probably have edited it already. Thanks and have a great day!

What an asinine question. Would you ask this question if a family member's life was on the line? I also question your choice of photo. It's made to look as if this disease is some third world country's problem. It's not. The epidemic is again on the rise in this country, particularly with the under 18 group. (Thanks to abstinence education, kids don't know how to protect themselves any more! It's another example of religious ignorance and the harm on real lives.)

Scientists are close to finding a cure. Every other month, they are finding another drug that will block the DNA replication of the virus. The trouble is, the virus mutates too fast. But better to have an arsenal of drugs to control the virus than not.

As for the problem in Africa, it is not the lack of drugs. We have the technology to control this virus. The problem is the funding. Antiviral drugs are now available for $1 a day over there, but when you're talking about the poverty levels of the average African citizen, you might as well tell them it's $1000 a day. Thanks to Bush and his upside down priorities, the USA spent a nickle (0.2% of our GDP) to the effort in third world countries while other European nations spend at least 2-3% or more. 10 times our efforts. We should be ashamed. At least of Bush!

In short, the question isn't whether or not we should continue. The question is, how much more money and how aggressively should we continue.

To ask..."IS IT TIME TO GIVE UP HOPE....?"...NO!
no- if applying to curing AIDS.
no- if applying to stopping HIV.
no - if applying to educating people of safe safe matters.
no- to many matters where life is concerned.

It will never be time to give up HOPE.
Never.

There will never be a halt in the research for AIDS. This is just someones attempt to lure in funding. There are scientist out there that will vest their own money to continue. Some will have a, "I can't be beat, attitude" and others will have a, "Can you imagine the income a cure would produce, attitude".

It will NEVER stop!

Hopefully they will find a cure for AIDS. With AIDS being a possible side effect sexual intercourse (regardless of what hole you want it in), why is it again that liberals would not want to teach abstinence as well as sex ed in schools?

Because abstinence "education" sets up the highly unrealistic expectation that teens won't have sex. (yeah right. I don't care what planet you live on.) And since kids think that they won't have sex, they won't buy protection, since they think it's for "sinful" people only. Denial is dangerous. It shouldn't be taught in schools at all.

drug companies are more like drug dealers than healers. from my understanding on aids, its transmitted from one person to another (through sex, drug use, etc.). unlike cancer which a flaw in all of us. so if we can stop the transmittal we can stop the virus. seems simple enough. the real cure for aids is education.

Yes, real education on how to protect oneself from an STD. Not denial mixed with religious dogma.

Pharmaceutical companies definitely should NOT give up on finding a cure for HIV, AIDS, or any of the cancers. People are dying every day and that should never be minimized or cast aside when there's hope for a cure.

I hope they don't ever give up.

Hey phoenix_fire999, I can agree with you in almost everything except in your misconception in regards to Religion.

You are talking about Religion in a generalized form implying that every Religion out there is doing a bad job and there is where I can not agree with you. When you talk about Religion, you have to specify What Religion? What group?

When I was in Communication school I had this wonderful teacher that said something that made a lot of sense to me. He said:

"Guys, one day you're going to be a Journalist out there! The biggest mistake you can do it is to blame Religion." Therefore set this rule, do not do it unless you're certain of the who's, what's and when? Do not generalize!

Generalizations are mistakes of speech. I did got that and I am kindly passing this to you. Let us not forget that Religion it is also a Culture. We all know it is not perfect, it was not meant to be perfect. Actually it is all about human mistakes. However Religion with all its mistakes are doing the job to help the poor a lot more than me and you combined.

The real issue here is that we must take responsibility for our own misconceptions and denials and stop to shoot the giver even if this giver was not what you expected to be. He or she is also a human after all and we humans do make mistakes. This is not a justification to continue to do the same mistakes again but to learn from our mistakes and other people mistakes and try not to fall in the same trap again. Therefore people, do not give up, keep responding, use condoms, have lots of safe sex and enjoy life.

i think ppl need to get real on this man i mean i doubt scientists are ove there really seeing whats going on i think they should live in such an environment to see why this is happening we may not be able to turn back time n make all these ppl totally healthy but we should at least work on stopping it idk thats my pov

if someone important (with money) got aids, the cure would be discovered.

I feel the anwser to the question of Should you give up on finding a cure for AIDS? Is why give up now the gov't put this STD out basicly to try to put an hold or an control over all Gays, Blacks, and Prostitutes. I personally believe that the cure can be found easily. There are many biologists that studied the genetic code and have many conclusion on AIDS. Some Researchers have suggested that the AIDS virus has come from African Green Monkeys and was passed on to humans, Some say that the blood of a monkey rejects the virus because African Green Monkeys lack the so called "R" gene in HIV-1 and HIV-2 meaning that if doesn't make monkeys sick.

NO!!! Don't give up on curing AIDS. We have some treatments for AIDS right now. Also don't give up on curing cancer either. Cancer has been around for a lot longer then AIDS and we don't have a cure. I bet all illnesses can be cured.

Werd2jah already posted that website but seems no one is looking at your first review of this subject..to much distraction in the world I suppose..thanks for your earlier writings on the subject..oneday people will learn to slow down and smell the roses?

Actually, a group in Canada is preparing to roll out a medication that is not only organic, it is 100% effective at prevention and very close to that effective in curing positive individuals. A year's supply is projected to cost a whopping $50 (at current currency valuations). If one reviews news releases over the past few months, you will see that the big Pharmco's are already preparing for this and indeed are on board to see it receives fast world-wide distribution.

AIDS CURE: U.S. Patent #5676977:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=856739955205135...