                     AIDS Daily Summary 
                      August 24, 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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"Japan Tobacco to Move Ahead With AIDS Drug"
"Across the USA: D.C."
"Chinese Court Rejects AIDS Damages Case"
"Latino Show Returns with Messages for Immigrants"
"The TV Column: Today's Specials"
"Gilead Sciences Names Michael K. Inouye Vice President, Sales 
and Marketing"
"FDA Reform: Activists' Proposals"
"Natural History of HIV-1 Cell-Free Viremia"
"HIV-Associated Diarrhoea and Wasting"
"Tuberculosis's Long, Slow Burn"
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"Japan Tobacco to Move Ahead With AIDS Drug"
Reuters (08/24/95)
     Japan Tobacco Inc. (JT) has announced that it will proceed with 
its clinical testing of an AIDS drug jointly developed with 
Agouron Pharmaceuticals Inc. of California.  "We made a contract 
with Agouron to jointly develop and commercialise an anti-HIV 
drug last December, and today we decided to move to the next step
in clinical testing in the United States," JT explained.  Earlier
on Thursday, JT shares skyrocketed from a report that it would 
announce a decision regarding the drug.  Although JT has already 
paid $6 million to Agouron to help develop the drug, and will pay
the company another $24 million following the positive results in
initial safety checks and preliminary testing, the two companies 
will now share the costs of developing the AIDS treatment.
      
"Across the USA: D.C."
USA Today (08/24/95) P. 5A
     The District of Columbia's largest private AIDS care provider may
be forced to reduce its services due to late payments from the 
city government.  Whitman-Walker Clinic director Jim Graham says 
the city owes more than $600,000.
      
"Chinese Court Rejects AIDS Damages Case"
Reuters (08/24/95)
     A Chinese court has dismissed a case filed by a patient against a
hospital and a physician for releasing the results of a test for 
HIV, the Wen Hui daily reported on Thursday.  In the first such 
case in China, the unnamed patient sought damages for 
psychological pain after the doctor told the patient's family, 
employer, and a government health department that the patient was
infected with HIV.  However, two subsequent HIV tests were 
negative and a third was inconclusive.  A district court upheld 
the patient's claim in July, and ordered the doctor and hospital 
to issue an apology and pay $1,861.  On appeal to the 
Intermediate People's Court, however, a judge overturned the 
verdict, ruling that the physician had acted "in a responsible 
way to both society and the patient."
      
"Latino Show Returns with Messages for Immigrants"
Washington Post (08/24/95) P. D.C.1;  Constable, Pamela
     "Linea Directa," the only Spanish-language public service 
television show in the metropolitan Washington area, has returned
to the air, eight months after losing its funding from the 
District of Columbia's government and disappearing from the air 
waves.  For five years, co-producers Eduardo Lopez and Arturo 
Salcedo worked out of the D.C. Mayor's Office on Latino Affairs, 
putting out 50 low-budget yet popular shows on issues including 
AIDS prevention.  Last winter, however, the men lost their jobs 
due to budget cuts, and the show was canceled.  Now, Lopez and 
Salcedo have worked out an agreement with the city, under which 
the Office on Latino Affairs will provide a monthly contribution 
and official sponsorship, as well as a low-rent studio and 
pledges of production funds from a number of foundations and 
agencies.
      
"The TV Column: Today's Specials"
Washington Post (08/24/95) P. D4;  Carmody, John
     ABC said on Wednesday that it will tape "Sinatra: 80 Years My 
Way" at a Nov. 19 black-tie affair in Los Angeles.  The two-hour 
program will be an "all-star celebration commemorating 
[Sinatra's] upcoming 80th birthday and his spectacular career in 
music, film, and television," according to ABC.  Entertainment 
president Ted Harbert reported that the event will include 
performances by some of the world's most popular entertainers, 
and that proceeds will benefit AIDS Project Los Angeles and the 
Barbara Sinatra Children's Center.
      
"Gilead Sciences Names Michael K. Inouye Vice President, Sales 
and Marketing"
Healthwire (08/23/95)
     Gilead Sciences Inc. has named Michael K. Inouye as its vice 
president of sales and marketing.  Inouye will take charge of the
development of that division as Gilead nears commercialization of
its most advanced drug candidate, VISTIDE, which is currently in 
studies for the treatment of cytomegalovirus retinitis, a 
blinding disease in AIDS patients.  Most recently, Inouye served 
as vice president of sales and marketing for InSite Vision Inc., 
where he managed the commercialization plans for late-stage 
opthalmic products.
      
"FDA Reform: Activists' Proposals"
AIDS Treatment News (08/04/95) No. 228, P. 6;  James, John S.
     There are now several proposals on the table for changing the 
U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), at least three of which 
were initiated by AIDS activist organizations.  The first, a 
consensus letter on FDA reform that has been signed by 10 major 
AIDS organizations, proposes 11 principles as the basis of any 
FDA reform.  These principles include continuing the agency's 
mission of protecting and advancing public health, allowing 
pre-approval access to experimental drugs that show potential for
serious and life-threatening illnesses, and ensuring that data 
are gathered on all populations likely to use a new drug.  A 
second proposal, the FDA Reform Consensus Draft Statement, 
focuses on avoiding delays and streamlining the process of 
getting new treatments to people faster.  Finally, AIDS activist 
Jim Driscoll has spent several months discussing FDA reform with 
Congressional offices.  Driscoll is interested amending the FDA's
mission so that it also encourages the rapid development of 
medical science and allows drug companies to teach doctors about 
well-accepted off-label uses of their products.  "Legislative 
reform of the FDA is the surest way to speed a cure for AIDS," 
according to Driscoll.
      
"Natural History of HIV-1 Cell-Free Viremia"
Journal of the American Medical Association (08/16/95) Vol. 274, 
No. 7, P. 554;  Henrard, Denis R.;  Phillips, Jack F.;  Muenz, 
Larry R. et al.
     In an attempt to characterize the natural history of viremia with
HIV and its relationship with disease progression, Henrard et al.
studied 42 homosexual men who seroconverted to HIV-1 in the 
early- to mid-1980s.  The subjects were tested each year for 
quantitative virion-associated HIV-1 RNA, p24 antigen, and CD4 
cells.  During the course of the study, the HIV-1 RNA levels 
remained stable; only 14 percent of the subjects had at least 
10-fold increases in the three to 11 years of follow-up.  Both 
univariate and multivariate analyses revealed that initial and 
subsequent HIV-1 RNA levels, p24 antigenemia, and a percentage of
CD4 cells were independently predictive of disease progression to
AIDS.  The findings indicate that there is a balance between 
HIV-1 replication and efficacy of immunologic response that is 
created soon after infection and continues through the 
asymptomatic phase of the disease.  The faulty immunologic 
control of HIV-1 infection, therefore, could be as important as 
the rate of viral replication in assessing survival free from 
AIDS.  HIV-1 RNA levels may be effective markers for predicting 
clinical outcome, the authors conclude, because the individual 
stable levels of viremia were established soon after infection.
      
"HIV-Associated Diarrhea and Wasting"
Lancet (08/05/95) Vol. 346, No. 8971, P. 352;  DuPont, H.L.;  
Marshall, G.D.
     DuPont and Marshall present the case of a 34-year-old Hispanic 
bisexual male who, nearly four years after his HIV diagnosis, 
began to experience bothersome diarrhea without fever.  The 
diarrhea persisted for more than a year, despite treatment with a
number of drugs.  The two primary explanations for this 
HIV/AIDS-related problem are opportunistic enteric infection and 
HIV enteropathy.  Approximately half of the patients with 
AIDS-related diarrhea are diagnosed with an infectious agent.  
DuPont and Marshall's patient was infected with a member of the 
order Microsporidia.  He was treated with metronidazole without 
effect, though it has occasionally been useful in relieving 
illness related to microsporidiosis.  This patient illustrates 
several of the clinical problems associated with HIV, diarrhea, 
and wasting.  The illness is generally prolonged.  In addition, 
the cause may not always be obvious, and may often involve a 
complex interaction between infection by enteric pathogens and 
intestinal immune defects.  Because the cause can vary, the 
authors conclude that it may be necessary to conduct numerous 
evaluations and to use combinations of both specific and 
non-specific drugs to improve quality of life and provide relief.
      
"Tuberculosis's Long, Slow Burn"
Science (08/04/95) Vol. 269, No. 5224, P. 637
     One success story in the history of public health is the effect 
of anti-tuberculosis (anti-TB) measures taken at the end of the 
19th century.  Now, however, researchers at the University of 
California at San Francisco claim that the disease was dying out 
anyway, without the help of the medical community.  Using a model
based on TB's known transmission characteristics, the researchers
report that a TB epidemic occurs as three overlapping 
subepidemics.  While the first epidemic quickly runs its course, 
the second and third begin gradually, but end very slowly, and 
can produce an epidemic of more than 100 years.  Although 
improved living standards and cleaner cities probably contributed
to the disease's downfall, they worked within the epidemic's 
decline, says lead researcher Sally Blower.  Her model also 
offers insight into the future of TB, which is resurging in the 
United States, in part because of AIDS and drug-resistant strains
of TB bacteria.
      
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