                     AIDS Daily Summary 
                       June 27, 1995

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National AIDS
Clearinghouse makes available the following information as a public
service only. Providing this information does not constitute endorsement
by the CDC, the CDC Clearinghouse, or any other organization. Reproduction
of this text is encouraged; however, copies may not be sold, and the CDC
Clearinghouse should be cited as the source of this information.
Copyright 1995, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD


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"Speed Is of the Essence"
"An Underground Pharmacy Flourishes"
"Doll Project Helps Those Who Have HIV"
"The TV Column"
"Banned No Longer, Albanian Gays Want Acceptance"
"Takara Technique Could Be Alternative to Gene Therapy"
"HIV Incidence Among Injection Drug Users Enrolled in a Los 
Angeles Methadone Program"
"Tuberculosis Falling in LA"
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"Speed Is of the Essence"
Financial Times (06/27/95) P. 10;  Cookson, Clive
     Last week, Swiss drug maker Roche announced that it was holding a
lottery of its protease inhibitor, saquinavir (Invirase), for 
AIDS patients in the United States.  The lottery is part of a 
"compassionate treatment programme"--a cross between a clinical 
trial and full availability--that was agreed upon by Roche, the 
U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and the AIDS lobby.  Close 
behind Roche is Merck, which began Phase III trials of its 
protease inhibitor, indinavir sulphate (Crixivan), this spring.  
Recent clinical evidence indicates that protease inhibitors are 
at least as effective as the first generation of reverse 
transcriptase inhibitors in fighting HIV.  Despite their success,
protease inhibitors--like reverse transcriptase inhibitors--also 
suffer from the tendency of HIV to develop resistance to them.  
It appears the best way to fight such resistance is by combining 
anti-HIV drugs.  There have also been indications that HIV is 
weakened by the multiple mutations required to adapt to drug 
combinations.  Protease inhibitors represent the largest class of
AIDS drugs in development; other therapies include improved 
reverse transcriptase inhibitors, gene therapy, and biochemical 
messenger molecules.
      
"An Underground Pharmacy Flourishes"
Washington Post (Health) (06/27/95) P. 9;  Paddock, Richard C.
     The Cannabis Buyers' Club is part of a growing movement aimed at 
winning sick people the right to use marijuana.  Authorities in 
San Francisco have long ignored the illegal market, saying that 
sick people who can benefit from the plant should be able to 
purchase it.  "We should bend the law and do what's right," 
declares Mayor Frank Jordan.  Federal officials, however, 
disagree.  A Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) official says that 
efforts to make the drug available for medical use are just a 
smoke screen for the campaign to legalize marijuana.  Because of 
the controversy, the government has been slow to approve studies 
of marijuana's medicinal effects.  For example, researcher Donald
Abrams of the University of California at San Francisco has been 
trying without success for three years to obtain federal approval
for a rigorous clinical trial to determine whether smoking 
marijuana can help ease wasting syndrome in AIDS patients.  The 
head of the DEA rejects Abrams' and others' claims that his 
agency is stalling such research.  He says the DEA merely insists
on a high standard of research and limited access to the drug.
      
"Doll Project Helps Those Who Have HIV"
Washington Times (06/27/95) P. C8;  Marshall, Toni
     The Children's Hope Foundation and Little Souls Inc. have joined 
forces to create Ribbon Kids--dolls designed by children with HIV
or AIDS.  The Children's Hope Foundation is a volunteer group 
dedicated to improving the quality of life for more than 3,500 
children living with HIV and AIDS by meeting both their medical 
and social needs.  Little Souls Inc. is a doll manufacturer based
in Ardmore, Pa.  Each doll wears a red ribbon and a unique tag 
describing the life story of the doll, including information 
about the foundation and the Ribbon Kids project.  The Ribbon Kid
line was introduced to great success earlier this year through 
Macy's and a Children's Hope Foundation benefit in New York City.
The line will be introduced later this summer in stores carrying 
Little Souls dolls.
      
"The TV Column"
Washington Post (06/27/95) P. E4;  Carmody, John
     As part of CBS News' "Before Your Eyes Series," the network will 
air "Angelie's Secret" on Thursday.  The two-hour program follows
a brave 11-year-old girl as she tells her friends, classmates, 
and neighbors that she has AIDS.  The film--which spans eight 
months--includes several visits to the National Institutes of 
Health (NIH), where Angelie Diyia is one of a small group of 
children with AIDS who receive monthly experimental drug 
treatments.  Philip Pizzo, chief of pediatrics at NIH's National 
Cancer Institute, is also featured in the film.  The "Before Your
Eyes" series is not a reenactment; it follows actual events as 
they occur.  Two previous programs followed the search for a 
runaway teenager and the world's youngest infant heart 
transplant.
      
"Banned No Longer, Albanian Gays Want Acceptance"
Reuters (06/26/95);  Koleka, Benet
     Despite overcoming some major obstacles, Albania's gay community 
has yet to be accepted by the country's conservative society.  
Following the overthrow of forty years of Communist leadership, 
the Albanian state has become less intrusive and people appear to
be less concerned about what other people do in their private 
lives.  New laws in the country permit consensual homosexual 
relationships and condemn violence against gays and lesbians.  
There are still problems, however, that need to be overcome 
before gays will feel at ease in Albania.  Employers, for 
example, routinely fire homosexuals.  In addition, isolation and 
ignorance have added to the threat of HIV in Albania's gay 
community.  Four of 11 HIV-infected patients in the country were 
either homosexual or had contracted the virus through homosexual 
contact.  Gay activists now visit houses and parks to instruct 
younger people about careless intercourse.  The gay community's 
next plan is to screen the award-winning film "Philadelphia."
      
"Takara Technique Could Be Alternative to Gene Therapy"
Nikkei Weekly (06/12/95) Vol. 33, No. 1675, P. 11
     A major Japanese distiller working with a research team at 
Indiana University has developed an inexpensive way to 
rehabilitate genetically defective blood cells, claiming an 
almost 100 percent success rate.  Takara Shuzo Co.'s technique 
involves incorporating therapeutic genes into the center of 
hemopoietic stem cells, thus ensuring production of blood cells 
with the genes for the rest of the patient's life.  Animal trials
provide evidence that once injected with the genes, the cells 
produce blood cells with the genes.  Sources say that the new 
method costs one-tenth of what conventional techniques have 
required for gene-therapy treatment.  The low cost is likely to 
prompt research into uses of the technique to treat AIDS and 
other diseases.  The company is expected to receive U.S. Food and
Drug Administration approval for trial treatments using this 
method within a few months.
      
"HIV Incidence Among Injection Drug Users Enrolled in a Los 
Angeles Methadone Program"
Journal of the American Medical Association (06/21/95) Vol. 273, 
No. 23, P. 1831;  Kerndt, Peter R.;  Weber, Mark;  Ford, Wesley 
et al.
     In a letter to the editor published in the Journal of the 
American Medical Association, researchers at the Los Angeles 
County Department of Health Services and at the Centers for 
Disease Control and Prevention present a 56-month case study in 
which almost 4,000 injection drug users (IDUs) entered methadone 
drug treatment.  More than half accepted confidential HIV 
testing.  Of those who had originally tested negative and had 
additional HIV tests, one person seroconverted.  The rate was 0.7
seroconversions per 1,000 person-years.  According to the 
authors, the low HIV seroconversion rate is consistent with the 
low seroprevalence found among IDUs in methadone treatment in Los
Angeles.  Because it was a retrospective observational study of a
highly self-selected group of IDUs, the observed seroconversion 
rate is probably a minimum estimate for the total IDU population 
in Los Angeles, the authors conclude.
      
"Tuberculosis Falling in LA"
Lancet (06/17/95) Vol. 345, No. 8964, P. 1565;  Frankel, David H.
     In 1994, the number of reported tuberculosis cases in Los Angeles
County (LAC) fell by 7.5 percent to 1794.  Although just 3 
percent of the U.S. population reside in the county, 8 percent of
the nation's TB patients live there.  In addition, LAC--which 
represents  about 10 percent of California's population--has more
than one-third of the state's TB cases.  Officials from the LAC 
Tuberculosis Control Program also note that the age distribution 
of TB cases in LAC more closely resembles the pattern seen in 
developing countries than the more typical American pattern.  
They credit some of their progress to increased government 
funding, which has been put toward directly observed therapy.  
Public health authorities are encouraged by the reduction; 
however, some are concerned that continued delays in the state's 
economic recovery and the effects of the "anti-immigrant" 
Proposition 187 may pose endanger the success of their programs.
      
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