

                     AIDS Daily Summary
                       March 18, 1996

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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"AIDS Therapy Study to Begin Among Patients"
"Gilead Sciences Inc.: FDA Panel Clears Vistide; Stock Sinks on 
Testimony"
"New York Helps 600 Retain Health Coverage"
"FDA Put Off Making Its Decision on Drug for AIDS Wasting"
"Case Hurts Green Cross Profit"
"Assessing AIDS Research"
"Guess What Kills More Women"
"Avid Gets Option to License HIV Protease Inhibitor"
"Neonatal Characteristics in Rapidly Progressive Perinatally 
Acquired HIV-1 Disease"
"Growing Crisis in Paying for Care"
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"AIDS Therapy Study to Begin Among Patients"
Wall Street Journal (03/18/96) P. B5;  Rundle, Rhonda L.
     Immune Response Corp., based in Carlsbad, Calif., is beginning a 
study of Remune, a controversial AIDS therapy designed to delay 
the onset of AIDS in HIV-infected individuals.  The trial, one of
the largest studies of an experimental AIDS treatment, will 
include 2,500 patients and will allow participants to continue 
taking their current medications.  Remune, a therapeutic vaccine 
proposed 10 years ago by company founder Jonas Salk, is designed 
to slow the progression to AIDS by bolstering the immune system's
attack on cells infected with HIV.  A prior test in 300 patients 
was inconclusive, and some experts say Remune stimulates a weak 
response, but does not have a significant benefit for patients.
      
"Gilead Sciences Inc.: FDA Panel Clears Vistide; Stock Sinks on 
Testimony"
Wall Street Journal (03/18/96) P. B4
     Although Gilead Sciences Inc.'s Vistide, a treatment for 
cytomegalovirus, was recommended for approval by a U.S. Food and 
Drug Administration advisory panel, testimony about the drug's 
potential side effects caused shares of Gilead to drop 23 percent
to 26.75 on Friday.  An FDA pharmacologist testifying at the 
hearing said Vistide had toxic side effects and had produced 
cancerous tumors in female rats.  A spokeswoman for Gilead, 
however, said that the animal studies implicating Vistide as a 
carcinogen had been reviewed by both the FDA and the company and 
were deemed not applicable to humans.  Related Story: Investor's 
Business Daily (03/18) P. A1
      
"New York Helps 600 Retain Health Coverage"
Journal of Commerce (03/18/96) P. 7A
     Some 600 New Yorkers whose health insurance was threatened will 
not lose their coverage, thanks to a bill signed by Gov. George 
Pataki.  The Empire Blue Cross and Blue Shield customers, many of
whom have AIDS, were at risk of losing coverage because of a 
quirk in federal Medicare law and Empire's decision to 
discontinue the policy.  The law said that Medicare recipients 
could not buy other policies to supplement their coverage.  The 
new law orders Empire to continue to sell the policies to these 
patients.
      
"FDA Put Off Making Its Decision on Drug for AIDS Wasting"
Wall Street Journal (03/18/96) P. A13A
     The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has postponed its decision 
on whether to approve Serono Laboratories Inc.'s growth hormone 
to prevent AIDS-related wasting.  While an FDA advisory panel 
voted on March 1 to recommend against approval, citing safety and
efficacy concerns, AIDS activists have been pressuring the 
federal agency to approve the drug.  Serono Laboratories, a 
subsidiary of Switzerland's Ares-Serono SA, said through its 
spokeswoman Gina M. Cella that it is in "ongoing discussions with
the agency."  Serono claims its drug has demonstrated 
effectiveness in preventing loss of lean body mass with few 
adverse side effects.
      
"Case Hurts Green Cross Profit"
Wall Street Journal (03/18/96) P. A14
     Japanese pharmaceutical firm, Green Cross Corp., says it will 
charge a one-time loss of $47.4 million against results for the 
current quarter to settle a lawsuit filed by hemophiliacs who 
contracted HIV from the firm's blood products.  The company noted
it could have two annual losses due to the settlement.
      
"Assessing AIDS Research"
Washington Post (03/18/96) P. A16
     This Washington Post editorial applauds the recently-released 
review of government-funded AIDS research, and the 
recommendations made by the panel of more than 100 independent 
experts.  The panel expressed hope that AIDS will be treated as a
chronic disease and that the HIV-infection of children may be 
prevented.  The review found that researchers in non-AIDS areas 
may have been basing funding proposals on tenuous links to AIDS 
and that some projects are not worthy of funding.  It suggested 
cutting back on drug development, reforming vaccine research, 
putting more focus on basic research, and supporting behavioral, 
social, and biomedical scientists working to prevent HIV 
infections.  The editors conclude that the review process is 
beneficial because it reassures both the policy-makers and the 
public, as well as provides perspective and new insight for 
scientists.
      
"Guess What Kills More Women"
Washington Post (03/16/96) P. A16
     In a Washington Post editorial, the authors urge countries and 
communities to actively work to stop the rapid spread of 
tuberculosis (TB), which kills more adults than malaria, other 
infectious diseases, and AIDS.  The editors note that TB is 
inexpensive to treat, and curable with a directly observed 
treatment program.  Antibiotics did rid the United States and 
other richer countries of TB in the past, but the disease--which 
is transmitted through the air--has resurged through travel, 
migration, and complacency.  According to the editors, careful 
monitoring of drug programs are necessary because, if handled 
improperly, anti-TB drugs can produce drug-resistant strains of 
the disease and thus make the epidemic even worse.
      
"Avid Gets Option to License HIV Protease Inhibitor"
Philadelphia Inquirer (03/16/96) P. D3
     Avid Corp. announced that it has received an exclusive option to 
license a second-generation protease inhibitor, called DMP-450, 
from DuPont Merck Pharmaceutical Co.  The compound has completed 
early human testing.
      
"Neonatal Characteristics in Rapidly Progressive Perinatally 
Acquired HIV-1 Disease"
Journal of the American Medical Association (02/28/96) Vol. 275, 
No. 8 , P. 606;  Mayaux, Marie-Jeanne;  Burgard, Marianne;  
Teglas, Jean-Paul
     Among infants who are infected with HIV-1 by perinatal 
transmission, 10 percent to 15 percent have a significant immune 
deficiency and opportunistic infections during the first few 
months of life, and with encephalopathy, most die within five 
years.  Other infants develop an immune deficiency gradually in 
a pattern similar to the disease progression in adults.  
Marie-Jeanne Mayaux et al. studied data from 267 children who had
acquired HIV perinatally, to determine if markers could be 
identified to predict which infants would rapidly progress to 
AIDS.  The researchers used data from the French Pediatric HIV 
Cohort, a network of 62 centers that keeps records of all infants
born to HIV-positive mothers in the country.  Opportunistic 
infections, cancers, and encephalopathy were used to measure the 
children's outcomes.  The risk of developing the rapid, severe 
disease during the first 12 months of life was significantly 
higher in infants with adenopathies and/or spleen or liver 
enlargement at birth.  The risk was also three times higher in 
infants who had a low percentage of CD4 cells at birth and who 
tested positive for HIV-1 during the first week of life.  The 
authors recommend that children of HIV-positive mothers be tested
early to identify those at risk.
      
"Growing Crisis in Paying for Care"
AIDS Treatment News (02/16/96) No. 241, P. 3;  James, John S.
     The cost of AIDS treatment and monitoring is a central issue for 
patients, notes John S. James in AIDS Treatment News.  As more 
drugs are used simultaneously, and protease inhibitors, which are
more expensive than existing drugs, become available, treatment 
costs are increasing to an estimated $12,000 to $18,000 a year.  
Other costs, like hospitalization, should decrease as improved 
treatment prevents HIV-related illnesses.  Fewer than 29 percent 
of people with HIV were covered by private insurance in 1994, and
that percentage is decreasing.  Fifty percent of AIDS patients 
are covered by Medicaid, but benefits--including 
prescriptions--are limited.  For people whose income makes them 
ineligible for state Medicaid benefits, the only options are 
state AIDS Drug Assistance Programs funded under the Ryan White 
CARE Act, which are experiencing a funding crisis, or programs 
offered by the pharmaceutical companies.  James contends that 
coalitions between AIDS service providers and pharmaceutical 
companies would be useful to alleviate the rising costs of AIDS 
care, as would grassroots support for government funding.  More 
research is also needed for doctors to know how to prescribe 
drugs effectively.  Other solutions that James proposes are 
better pharmaceutical company assistance programs and research 
into less expensive treatments.
      
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