WF10 is an experimental immune modulator that is being tested in people with HIV. A pilot study found evidence that it improves the ability of macrophages (a type of white blood cell) to destroy and remove bacteria or foreign bodies from the blood.

Containing an active ingredient known as TCDO, WF10 is administered intravenously. It is currently in clinical trials in the United States and Canada among people with low CD4 cell counts.

One randomised, double-blind study of 19 people with advanced AIDS has been published. Although numbers were small, results of this three-month study are encouraging. Immune function improved in the WF10 group and declined in the control group, while ten infections occurred in the control group compared with three in the WF10 group. No-one on WF10 was hospitalised, whereas five of the control group spent a total of 53 days in hospital. In the nine-month follow-up period, six people in the control group died compared with one person from the WF10 group (Raffanti 1998).

References

Raffanti SP et al. Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of the immune modulator WF10 in patients with advanced AIDS. Infection 26: 202-207, 1998.