JNS.org – Israeli scientists may have found a cure for AIDS in an experimental new drug, according to reports in the Hebrew press.

The drug, called Gammora, was developed at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University and is currently being tested at the Neve Or AIDS Treatment and Research Center at the Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot. When Gammora was injected into test tubes containing blood samples from AIDS patients and HIV carriers undergoing treatment at the Kaplan facility, researchers found the virus was eliminated by up to 97 percent after an eight-day period.

The drug’s active ingredient, peptide, causes infected cells to disintegrate and was developed by Professor Abraham Loyter, of Hebrew U’s biological chemistry department, and Assaf Friedler, who runs a lab at the university’s Institute of Chemistry.

“In our approach, we eliminate the [HIV] cells, so there’s no chance that the virus will return one day because there are no cells — or there will be no cells — containing the virus,” Loyter said, according to reports.

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The Israeli start-up Zion Pharmaceuticals is developing the medication, which has a long way to go before approval, company officials said.

AIDS treatments currently on the market can curb the growth of the virus, but do not break down the disease itself.