Fridae

"How can I refuse them the drug when the patients queue up in front of my clinic?" asks Dr Montri Sethabutr. He is talking about the controversial compound known as V-1 Immunator, and his clinic is Ban Bang Phakong, where it's given out to people with HIV and Aids for free.

But government and NGO officials are worried. While they have all carefully avoided condemning the concoction of calcium, magnesium, and the remnants of HIV virus cultures, no one is coming out and saying that it's an effective cure, either, according to the Bangkok Post.

The problem is this: the clinic wants to find out how effective V-1 Immunator is, so the staff asks their patients to stop taking all other drugs.

The Thai Red Cross's Aids Research Center weighed in on the issue, saying that the single-drug policy could prove harmful, not just because stopping anti-retroviral treatments could lead to drug resistance. There is also the problem of opportunistic infections.

"I� visited the clinic and was asked to stop taking Cytomoxazole for my lung infection," said Paisal Tan-ud, of the Network for People with HIV/Aids in Thailand. "I don't want others to stop taking medication for opportunistic infections just because they want to take to V-1 Immunator drug."

The controversy about this issue is far from over.