Word: ho
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...didn't take long before these futile efforts began to wear on the researchers in the field, not least of all those at ADARC, where Ho's group was attempting to develop its own vaccine - with little success. The center - which had earned such laurels for its ARV triumph - began to suffer a scientific slump and lack of direction, according to those who left in the early 2000s. Some blame Ho's management style, which, they say, changed in the aftermath of media attention that came with his recognition as Person of the Year. They describe a highly competitive atmosphere...
...malaise at the lab, which Ho attributes to personality conflicts among the faculty, began to infect the quality of the science. In 2002, Ho generated headlines when he thought he had found the X factor made by immune cells that protected some people from developing AIDS. It turned out, however, that his conclusion was premature. Other cells had contaminated his results, and he was forced to issue a "retraction of an interpretation" of the paper describing the study. "It was an embarrassing moment for us, but we fixed it ourselves," says Ho. "It was certainly a low point...
...Clouds Part But by early 2007, Ho had already glimpsed the possibility of an answer. In Houston the biotech firm Tanox had developed a compound that it thought might interest him. Ho knew Tanox well. He is a friend of one of the company's co-founders and is a member of its scientific-advisory board, so if the scientists there thought they were onto something, he suspected it was worth a look...
...drugs were, HIV inevitably found a way to evade them. So while the agent seemed to reduce the burden of virus in the blood up to 90% in patients with full-blown AIDS, no one knew how long the viral standoff would last. The company's leaders wanted Ho's opinion on whether the agent was worth developing further...
Looking at the numbers, Ho saw more than just another member of the growing arsenal of ARV cocktails. Each of the ARVs focuses on thwarting just one of several different steps in HIV's infection process. Ibalizumab works at the critical juncture where the virus meets a healthy CD4 cell - a critical component of the immune system - essentially interposing itself between the two and preventing infection. If ibalizumab was so good at tamping down HIV in AIDS patients who were already infected, then maybe it could be tweaked to prevent AIDS in the first place. In other words, maybe...