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Cancer drug finds HIV hidden in the body

Michael Weinstein says people taking Truvada may stop using condoms, which he notes is a proven safe way of preventing infection. But he warns that if people do not take the drug every day, “they are going to think they are protected when they are not.”

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SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: People have turned to nature for medicines since ancient times. Modern scientists have searched the world’s rainforests for chemicals to fight disease. But now, they are turning somewhere else -- the world’s oceans.

At least twenty six drugs made from sea creatures are on the market or in development. Scientists are working to make more.

Chemist Mande Holford has an unusual partner in her search -- a marine snail that eats fish. She says the snails’ tongue like proboscides is deadly. They use it to inject the target with a liquid made from poisonous amino acids called peptides.

MANDE HOLFORD: “What I’d like to say is that the snails produce sort of a cluster bomb. Inside of each venom you have between 50 to 200 different peptides. And all of those peptides target something major along the nervous system. One thing that they hit is a pain signal. When they silence the pain signal, the prey doesn’t go into fight or flight mode.”

The fish stays calm, even while it is being eaten. Chemists already have had one major success using the peptides – a drug called Prialt eases pain for HIV and cancer patients.