A Phase I Dose Escalation Study of Synthetic Hypericin in HIV-Infected Patients With Less Than 300 CD4 Lymphocytes

Hypericin is unlike other drugs presently being used to treat AIDS patients. Hypericin shows anti-HIV activity in test tube experiments. Each group of eight patients receives a given dose of hypericin by intravenous infusion. Doses are given three times per week for 8 weeks. When all eight patients at a dose level have been entered and four of the eight patients have completed 3 weeks of therapy without evidence of dose-limiting toxicity, additional patients may begin to receive drug at the next dose level. Concurrently, six patients wll participate in an oral-dosing bioavailability study. NOTE: The initial study was stopped secondary to an MTD being reached.