RUSSIA: GOVERNMENT'S SPENDING CRISIS FREEZES SCIENTIFIC FUNDING скачать в хорошем качестве

RUSSIA: GOVERNMENT'S SPENDING CRISIS FREEZES SCIENTIFIC FUNDING

(2 Oct 1996) English/Nat The Russian government's spending crisis has frozen scientific funding across Russia, paralysing research in many fields, not least medicine. The crisis has crippled work on a drug which Russian scientists are convinced could be of vital importance to the world. Developed through work on the ancient disease of leprosy, they believe the drug could help fight the scourge of today -- AIDS. Stigmatised by centuries-old prejudice and shunned by a society that preferred to hide their existence, Russia's lepers found a friend in Nikolai Goloshapov. Now, after a lifetime's dedication to his patients, Goloshapov has had enough. Financially abandoned by the health ministry, his leper colony outside Moscow is facing oblivion. Goloshapov quits next year, exhausted by the fight for cash. The loss to his patients will be immense. The loss to medicine may be just as great. In a laboratory better suited to classroom experiments than scientific research, Goloshapov's team produce small quantities of a drug they believe may be instrumental in the fight against AIDS. Diutsifon was developed by Goloshapov in 1968 to treat leprosy victims. Further tests showed the drug successful in the treatment of tuberculosis and syphilis. Researchers in Moscow now think Goloshapov could be right in believing Diutsifon offers hope to H-I-V sufferers too. Goloshapov would gladly offer his drug for laboratory research abroad. Yet the 20 kilograms his team produce in a year is barely enough to treat their own leprosy patients. At Moscow's Institute of Immunology, scientists from the AIDS research team have been testing Diutsifon since the mid-1980's. They say lack of funds is holding up the search for conclusive results. But data from patients receiving the drug show it has greatly retarded the development of H-I-V into full-blown AIDS. All the individuals treated with Diutsifon to date continue to lead active lives. SOUNDBITE: (Russian) "It allows patients infected with H-I-V not just to live, but to maintain their ability to work - and hope for the future - for the maximum possible time." SUPER CAPTION: Marina Papuashvili, Moscow Institute of Immunology, AIDS research unit The leper colony meanwhile languishes on the brink of ruin and Goloshapov walks among the remains of a shattered dream. Plans to open a production laboratory in a joint venture with India collapsed along with the Soviet Union. SOUNDBITE: (Russian) "If we could only get this laboratory in action, I am sure we could do a great deal of good. We could develop new medicines and perfect those that we already have. But for now, just the shell of it remains - and even this is slowly crumbling." SUPER CAPTION: Prof. Nikolai Goloshapov Financial crisis has spared the lives of the few remaining rabbits in his laboratory. But Goloshapov knows it will also terminally halt research work by the New Year. SOUNDBITE: (Russian) "Evidently the state feels it has more important tasks on hand. Strikes are breaking out, workers aren't paid, production lines are at a standstill. Presumably our problems seem small in comparison." SUPER CAPTION: Prof. Nikolai Goloshapov Immunology experts in Russia are calling the imminent demise of Goloshapov's research a tragedy. H-I-V sufferers across the world would surely agree. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...