TERRY MICHAEL INTERVIEW WITH ROBERT GALLO at the XIX International AIDS Society Conference

posted by Terry Michael:
I did with Dr. Robert Gallo at the XIX International AIDS Society Conference in Washington, DC, July 22, 2012. I had to transcribe it, because it's a poor quality audio, and Gallo is a hard interview. His syntax makes it difficult to follow him on the audio, but it should be easier with this transcript:

Here's the audio file you can download, as Windows Media Audio (.WMA):

And here it is (much larger file) as an .MP3:

I asked Gallo mostly about Luc Montagnier, and what he (Gallo) thought of his one-time colleague's views on "HIV co-factors" and Montagnier's assertion that we can rid ourselves of HIV "in just a few weeks if you have a good immune system," in the interview from the film "House of Numbers"

I also asked Gallo about his views on use of so-called "ARV's" for PrEP, or "pre-exposure prophylaxis," on which he equivocated, but said he was "not on that bandwagon."

At one point, Gallo tried to go "off-the-record"--even though his press aide early in the interview cautioned him that "you're on the record."  Gallo attempted to go off-the-record in what I regarded as an attempt to slander Montagnier by suggesting he (Montagnier) was trying to personally profit from his theories on nutrition and AIDS. As a journalist, I believe an interviewee has the right to ask if he can go off-the-record, during the course of an interview.  But, in this case, he did not ask to change the on-the-record condition; he just asserted he was doing it. In any case, I don't believe an interviewee should be able go off-the-record to engage in an ad hominem attack. That quote, in context, is copied below.

The Shame of Gilead

by Terry Michael

Gilead Sciences, headquartered in Foster City, CA, is the world's number one purveyor of the chemotherapies known as "anti-retrovirals" (ARVs.) In 2011, the company (named for the Biblical "balm of Gilead") reported ARV sales of about $6.91 billion dollars. The trade names for their ARVs are: Truvada, Atripla, Viread, Complera and Emtriva--all of which they acknowledge have serious adverse "side" effects (as noted in the Gilead prescribing information for Truvada.) Gilead was way ahead of nearest competitor Bristol-Myers-Squibb, which sold about $3.05 billion of the chemo in 2011, according to year-end corporate reports I have reviewed.

Drugs or NO Drugs? ARVs, HIV and AIDS and one man's decision

by: Jonathan Barnett 

That’s my latest CD4 count, less than half the count from six weeks ago.

That’s it. I have tried as many alternative treatments as I can think of to reverse the decline. I will be starting my third round of pharmaceutical ARVs as soon as I can get a prescription and fill it.

This decision has been a long time coming, and in hindsight, I probably should have restarted a few months ago. There’s nothing magical about 97, or being below 100, but it’s as good a breaking point as any. I’ve long argued that there are two things to keep in mind about CD4 counts: one is the long-term trend; the other is single- or low double-digit counts.

No bounce left

For years, my CD4 count has bounced like a ping-pong ball, but that changed a few months ago. It’s been more of a straight line decline since last October, and a drop from nearly 500 in December 2010. Eight of the last nine tests have reported a decline. The CD4% (percentage), which is another way this marker is measured, has dropped from 20% last October to only 9% several days ago. I know some people who dismiss flow cytometry—the procedure used to measure t-cells like CD4—as unreliable, and I plan to debunk that notion in an upcoming post.

My counts have been decling much more
quickly for more than two years now.

Look folks, I’m not willing to wait for a serious infection to hit me before taking action. I have unquestionably performed above and beyond due diligence and have I tried many of the most promising alternative therapies. While those treatments may have been beneficial, and may have even slowed the decline, they haven’t managed to halt it, let alone reversed it.

To those who might be disappointed in my decision to restart ARVs: trust me, no one is more disappointed than I am. I might even be a bit discouraged… for about 5 minutes. Then I remind myself that when I first quit these drugs 13 years ago, I didn’t know how long I could go without them… Weeks? Months? I had 2 1/2 years free from them then. The second time I quit the drugs in 2003, I didn’t know how long I could go without them. I never imagined I would have more than nine years of freedom, and I don’t regret a day of it. In fact, I am very, very grateful.

SOUTH AFRICA: Policy turnaround on breastfeeding. "Confusion" surrounding infant feeding and the risk of HIV transmission.

PlusNews: Some people may think that it is mainly ARVs that kill people affected by HIV, but the provision of infant formula and the discouragement (or, in rich countries, legal banning) of breastfeeding may have quietly killed as many…“South Africa’s high child mortality rates have forced the government to rethink its policy on infant feeding and move to discontinue the free provision of formula milk at hospitals and clinics, as well as promote an exclusive breastfeeding strategy for all mothers, including those living with HIV…South Africa is one of only 12 countries in the world where infant mortality is rising. It also has one of the world’s lowest levels of exclusive breastfeeding: an estimated 8 percent, dropping to 1.5 percent for babies between four and six months old”…The downside is that this is being used as an excuse to provide ARVs to infants of HIV+ mothers, so if they don’t kill them one way, they will try another.