Sherman Oaks Company to Test AIDS Therapy

HemaCare Corp. in Sherman Oaks said it has been licensed to conduct clinical trials and possibly market a treatment for patients with Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, or AIDS.

HemaCare, a provider of blood-related services and products, said the treatment is known as Passive Hyperimmune Therapy (PHT) and was licensed to the company for testing by Medicorp Inc., a Montreal concern that holds the patent on the treatment.

The treatment involves taking blood plasma from people exposed to the AIDS virus but who are otherwise healthy and whose plasma has a high concentration of antibodies that can neutralize the virus. The plasma is sterilized and given monthly to AIDS patients whose immune systems have been destroyed by the disease.

PHT has few or no side effects, the company says.

Testing of the treatment could begin next month and, if the tests go well and HemaCare receives necessary approvals from the state Department of Health, sale of the treatment to AIDS patients in California could begin sometime in 1991, said Dr. Joshua Levy, HemaCare’s medical director. HemaCare also will seek approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, he said.