                     AIDS Daily Summary 
                     September 21, 1994

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National AIDS
Clearinghouse makes available the following information as a public
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Copyright 1994, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD

"U.S. Bioscience Inc."
Wall Street Journal (09/21/94) P. A5
     U.S. Bioscience announced Tuesday that it received approval from 
the European Economic Community to sell Ethyol and NeuTrexin in 
Europe.  Ethyol, still under review by the Food and Drug 
Administration, is an infection-fighting drug.  NeuTrexin is a 
treatment for pnuemocystis carinii pneumonia in AIDS patients and
was FDA approved in December 1993.  Both drugs must still be 
approved by the individual countries in which they are to be 
sold.  Related Story: New York Times (9/21) P. D4.
      
"Red Cross Told in 1983 to Screen Donors"
Toronto Globe and Mail (09/20/94) P. A2;  Picard, Andre
     According to documents filed at a public inquiry, the Canadian 
Red Cross was told by its own lawyer on March 29, 1983 that it 
had a "moral and legal obligation ..." to eliminate high-risk 
blood donors, even if it did not have proof that they were 
transmitting HIV.  Red Cross scientists continued to rely on 
"self-exclusion" by high-risk donors and did not amend the 
questionnaire they used to screen donors.  While there were 
already published reports that AIDS was predominantly transmitted
among sexually active gay men, at this time there was some 
evidence of infection through transfusions and blood products 
used by hemophiliacs.  Haitians were noted as a group where AIDS 
was spreading quickly.  In early March 1983, the CRC issued a 
press release asking that members of high-risk groups not donate 
blood.  This was met with criticism from some groups, who 
threatened to make complaints to human rights associations.  The 
inquiry is an attempt to determine how more than 1,000 
hemophiliacs became infected with HIV between 1980 and 1985.
      
"Red Cross Slow in Screening, Panel Told"
Toronto Globe and Mail (09/20/94) P. A3;  Picard, Andre
     The Canadian Red Cross did not ask specific questions to screen 
out high-risk blood donors until 1985, even though a Montreal 
baby was infected, in early 1983, with HIV after receiving a 
transfusion.  During those two years, the CRC relied on its 
nurses' "flair for intuition" to identify high-risk donors, said 
Dr. Raymond Guevin, the former medical director of the Montreal 
blood center, at the Commission of Inquiry on the Blood System in
Canada on Monday.  He also said that the CRC encouraged 
self-exclusion because it was afraid of violating human-rights by
singling out donors from certain groups.  In March of 1993, 
transfusion-related HIV had already been identified in 32 babies 
in the United States, and 70 percent of Canadian hemophiliacs 
were suffering from  a reduced immune system response, indicative
of HIV.
      
"$370,000 More Awarded in Blood Case"
Toronto Globe and Mail (09/20/94) P. A6
     The Canadian Red Cross, Dr. Stanley Bain, and the Toronto 
Hospital have been ordered to pay Rochelle Pitman approximately 
$370,000, about 60 percent of the court costs she incurred in a 
civil action against them.  In March, Mrs. Pitman and her family 
were awarded $630,000 in a ruling that found the CRC et al. 
negligent in their failure to notify Mrs. Pitman that her husband
had received HIV-tainted blood during surgery in December 1983.  
In March 1990, when he died from HIV-related pneumonia, Mr. 
Pitman did not know that he had been infected.
      
"Three Ex-French Ministers to Face Court on AIDS"
Reuters (09/20/94)
     Three former French government ministers will face a special 
parliamentary court this month in an investigation into whether 
they were linked to blood transfusions that infected thousands of
hemophiliacs with HIV.  The court will place the three men under 
formal investigation, which is often a formal move toward a trial
in France.  More than 1,250 hemophiliacs became infected with HIV
when French officials used up blood stocks in an effort to save 
money rather than import virus-free blood products.
      
"Med Students to Teach AIDS Class"
St. Louis Post-Dispatch (09/19/94) P. 3S;  Billingsly, Linda
     Approximately one-third of the biology students at Rockwood's 
Marquette High School in Missouri will be able to volunteer for a
two-day class called Students Teaching About AIDS to Students.  
The purpose of the class is to prevent transmission of HIV in 
adolescents, since they are the age group that is most at risk.  
Medical students will teach the students about HIV's 
characteristics, how it is transmitted, and its effects on the 
immune system.  AIDS patients will talk about the effect of the 
disease on their lives and the deadly nature of HIV.  Abstinence 
will be stressed as the only sure way to avoid infection.  The 
program was started in 1987 and is also taught to seventh graders
and the students' parents.
      
"International Murex Launches Enhanced HIV Test into Global Markets"
PRNewswire (09/19/94)
     International Murex Technologies Corporation announced the 
introduction of an enhanced HIV blood screening test, based on 
Murex's existing Wellcozyme HIV 1+2 test.  It will be marketed to
clinical laboratories and blood banks in Europe, Southeast Asia, 
and the Middle East pending registration with each country.  
Murex responded to the discovery of HIV-1 Subtype O by adding an 
extra antigen that allows detection of Subtype O.  The new 
product also includes Murex's Sample Addition Monitor color 
coding technology, which changes color at each step, thus 
facilitating the test for the users by ensuring that the samples 
have been added correctly.  International Murex Technologies 
Corporation is a medical diagnostic products company dedicated to
the research, manufacture, and marketing of products for the 
detection, monitoring, and screening of infectious diseases and 
other medical conditions.
      
"National Color Can Make a Difference Day: Salon Clients Can Help Make a Difference in the Fight Against AIDS"
PRNewswire (09/19/94)
     By making a hair cut appointment on September 24, 1994, clients 
at certain salons can help raise money and awareness for AIDS by 
participating in Clairol Professional's Second Annual National 
Color Can Make a Difference Day.  Since its beginning three years
ago, the program has raised over $300,000 for the American 
Foundation for AIDS Research--the nation's leading non-profit 
organization dedicated to AIDS research, education, and public 
policy.  This year, Clairol will initiate the program on four 
other continents.  A new feature is that a percentage of funds 
raised in major cities will be designated for local AIDS 
organizations within the community.  This year, Clairol hopes to 
double last year's 500 salons that participated and to increase 
the salon donation to AmFAR from 25 percent to 35 percent.
      
"Major Lymph-Node Study Examines AZT, ddI Effects"
AIDS Treatment News (09/02/94) No. 206, P. 2
     DATRI-003, conducted by the Division of AIDS Treatment Research 
Initiative--a division of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy 
and Infectious Diseases--is the largest study so far of 
lymph-node biopsies.  The research is important because HIV 
infection is extremely active in the lymph nodes.  The  32 
patients, who were divided into four groups of AZT 
administration, showed basically no change in the percentage of 
infected lymph node cells.  Viral replication decreased in six 
patients who added ddI to their treatments, but in the group that
started AZT during the study, no change in viral replication was 
seen, although T-helper count did increase.  The researchers 
suggest that the antiviral effect of AZT and ddI may be lower in 
early stages of the disease.
      
"Are Researchers Racing Toward Success, or Crawling?"
Science (09/02/94) Vol. 265, No. 5177, P. 1373;  Cohen, Jon
     A growing number of AIDS researchers conclude that there never 
has been a race to develop an AIDS vaccine--that the "race" was 
mostly noise and posturing at scientific meetings.  
Pharmaceutical companies are not putting money and time into AIDS
vaccines because the market in developed countries is likely to 
be much smaller than previously thought, resulting in very few 
companies who are devoted to the search for a vaccine.  In July, 
the Rockefeller Foundation released a report, "Accelerating the 
Development of Preventive HIV Vaccines for the World," that 
highlights a four-day meeting last year in Bellagio, Italy.  The 
report shows a much smaller AIDS vaccine market in the United 
States and Europe than 1990 estimates by Shearson Lehman Hutton. 
Because of financial and statistical uncertainties, as well as 
fear of government regulation and lawsuits from people claiming 
to be injured from the vaccines, many companies are wary to 
continue the search for a vaccine.  The Bellagio report also 
notes that the search for an AIDS vaccine has been "catering to 
the needs of the developed world," whose population represents 
less than 10 percent of the world's new HIV infections.  
Researchers are focusing on the B subtype of HIV, which 
predominates in the United States and Europe but may not help 
Third World countries, where HIV is spreading rapidly.  The 
Bellagio report proposes a global HIV vaccine initiative and, 
while offering no specific details, suggests ideas including a 
task force, a consortium, or a nonprofit institute.
      
