XMRV research at Emory
I am new to all of this and foggy-brained to boot. Thank you to the moderator who moved the press release to this thread. :Retro redface: I emailed Dr. Raymond Schinazi (mentioned in the Anti-HIV drug study) to ask about further research. He's at Emory and I'm not far from there. He wrote back to say "We are beginning to work using an animal model for XMRV. We will prove that the drugs we discovered work in an animal model before we can embark on studies in humans." As you'll see from his bio, he has a vested interest in pursuing XMRV work, along with scientific and humanitarian interests, which means, I hope, that they are moving on this post haste.
Here's his bio:
Raymond F. Schinazi, PhD, Hon DSc
Professor of Pediatrics and Chemistry; Director, Laboratory of Biochemical Pharmacology, and Senior Research Career Scientist; Core Director, Emory's Center for AIDS Research, Emory University / Veterans Affairs Medical Center
Dr. Raymond F. Schinazi is Professor of Pediatrics and Chemistry and Director of the Laboratory of Biochemical Pharmacology at Emory University. Professor Schinazi received his Ph.D. in Chemistry in 1976 from the University of Bath, England, and completed post-doctoral training in Pharmacology at Yale University and in Virology/Immunology at Emory University. He serves as the Senior Research Career Scientist at the Atlanta Department of Veterans Affairs and Director of the Pharmacology/Drug Discovery Core for the NIH-sponsored Emory University Center for AIDS Research (CFAR). Dr. Schinazi is the founder of several biotechnology companies focusing on antiviral drug discovery and development, including Pharmasset Inc., Triangle Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Gilead in 2003), Idenix Pharmaceuticals (51% acquired by Novartis in 2003), and RFS Pharma LLC (formed in Sept 2004). He has published over 420 peer-reviewed papers and 7 books, and holds more than 70 US patents. He is best known for his innovative and pioneering work on d4T (stavudine), 3TC (lamivudine), FTC (emtriva), D-D4FC (reverset), RCV (racivir), and DAPD (amdoxovir), drugs that are now approved by the FDA, or are at various stages of clinical development. His inventions now sell more than US$2.0 billion per year and more than 80% of the HIV infected individuals take at least one of the drugs he invented. Dr. Schinazi is on the editorial board of several journals, including Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, Antiviral Research, AIDS Reviews, Antiviral Chemistry and Chemotherapy and Antiviral Therapy. He is the founder of the highly successful HIV- and HEP-DART conferences. Dr. Schinazi is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Georgia Biomedical Industry Growth Award, the Bruce Witte Award, the 2006 Distinguished Scientist Award from the Hepatitis B Foundation, and two Merit Awards (10 year grants) from NIH-NIAID. In 2006, he received an honorary D.Sc. from Bath University for his research accomplishments in the field of HIV and biotechnology. He also served on the Presidential Commission on AIDS.