UCLA HIV/AIDS Researcher Violated Rules,

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" Researcher Violated Rules, UCLA Says "

Los Angeles Times (04.16.03):: Trounson; Ornstein

On Tuesday, a University of California-Los Angeles medical

oversight board found microbiology professor L. Fahey

violated federal rules by taking part in controversial medical

studies in which AIDS patients in China were injected with

malaria-infected blood. A statement issued by UCLA's

institutional review board, which reviews medical experiments

involving human subjects, found that Fahey did not participate

directly in the controversial trials, but did, without requisite

permission from the board, evaluate data and biological samples

brought to the university by a Chinese scientist.

The research effort was sponsored by Dr. Henry Heimlich, the

Heimlich Institute's founder and creator of the anti-choking

Heimlich maneuver. The experiments seek to use the immune

reaction induced by malaria as a possible AIDS treatment. Many

AIDS researchers say the therapy could harm already ill patients

by infecting them with another potentially deadly disease.

A second UCLA researcher, Najib Aziz, who was also

investigated, was not found to have broken any rules, said UCLA

spokesperson Max Benavidez. Aziz was working " under Dr. Fahey's

purview, " he said.

Fahey said he " regrets the misunderstanding this matter has

caused. " He said he became indirectly involved in the so-called

malariotherapy research in 1997, when he was training a Chinese

scientist, Xiao Ping Chen, during a three-month program at UCLA.

At the time, Chen was testing blood serum collected several years

earlier from patients he had infected with malaria. Fahey said

that was " the only time specimens from malariotherapy patients

were at UCLA. "

Heimlich, however, appeared undeterred by the controversy.

He recently announced that he is working with doctors to begin

human tests of the therapy in five African nations.

UCLA's review board said Fahey had violated regulations and

school policy for the protection of human subjects by not seeking

approval from the university before allowing Chen to conduct

research at UCLA. The university reiterated Tuesday that it " has

never approved any research pertaining to malariotherapy studies

for HIV. " UCLA administrators will review the board's findings to

determine whether discipline is required, Benavidez said.

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SOURCE: CDC HIV/STD/TB Prevention News Update