                     AIDS Daily Summary 
                      February 6, 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 1996, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD


************************************************************
"AIDS Conference Offers Reasons for Hope"
"New AIDS Therapies Arise, But Who Can Afford the Bill?"
"Pharmacia & Upjohn to Cut 10 Percent of Jobs"
"A Week of Dramatic Ups and Downs on the AIDS Front"
"AIDS-drug Lottery: Life-and-Death Contest"
"New Drug Cut AIDS Deaths in Trial"
"Letters to the Editor: Magic Shouldn't Compete in 1996 
Olympics/Drop All This Paranoia/Not a Real Comeback"
"NIH Budget Trouble for AIDS Office?"
"N.Y. Professor Puts Discredited AIDS Theory in Book"
"Infections Making a Deadly Comeback"
************************************************************

"AIDS Conference Offers Reasons for Hope"
Washington Post--Health (02/06/96) P. 7;  Brown, David
     The Third Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic 
Infections, held in Washington D.C. last week, offered new hope 
for AIDS treatment.  Studies revealed new drugs, new tests for 
measuring how the drugs are working, and a new understanding of 
HIV.  Researchers learned that a combination of drugs is more 
effective than a single one and that some drugs appear to stop 
HIV from growing.  They also found that the amount of virus in 
the blood predicts a patient's future health better than tests 
used before, that women with small amounts of the virus are less 
likely to transmit it to their children, and that lowering the 
amount of virus in the blood helps patients.  While saying that 
the studies are only preliminary, the University of Pittsburgh's 
John Mellor said that the conference was "a major milestone" in 
the 15-year history of AIDS.
      
"New AIDS Therapies Arise, But Who Can Afford the Bill?"
New York Times (02/06/96) P. A1;  Altman, Lawrence K.
     Researchers revealed promising results for combination therapy 
with new AIDS drugs at a scientific meeting in Washington last 
week.  But combining the drugs costs $12,000 to $18,000 a year, 
making the total bill for advanced AIDS patients as high as 
$70,000.  Private health insurance covers drug costs for some 
patients, and the Ryan White CARE Act covers drug expenses for 
others.  While Medicaid pays for the drugs for still others, the 
number of individual drugs covered each month may be limited.  
Dr. Harold W. Jaffe, an official at the Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention who also treats patients at Grady Memorial
Hospital in Atlanta, said that while the clinic has gone from one
drug to two for initial treatment, "we have a fixed pharmacy 
budget, so what are we going to not supply in order to 
accommodate these new drugs?"  AIDS advocates have asked drug 
companies to lower the costs of new drugs and have called on the 
federal government to increase funding for the drugs.
      
"Pharmacia & Upjohn to Cut 10 Percent of Jobs"
New York Times (02/06/96) P. D4
     Pharmacia & Upjohn Inc. has confirmed that it intends to reduce 
its workforce by about 10 percent and set up headquarters near 
London.  According to company president John Zabriskie, the 
pharmaceutical firm also plans to launch 28 products for the 
treatment of several conditions, including AIDS, cancer, 
Parkinson's disease, and central nervous system disorders.  
Related Stories: Financial Times (02/06) P. 18; Washington Post 
(02/06) P. C2; USA Today (02/06) P. 2B
      
"A Week of Dramatic Ups and Downs on the AIDS Front"
USA Today (02/06/96) P. 3D;  Painter, Kim
     Over the past week, both good and bad news has been reported on 
the AIDS front.  New drugs were reported to offer the most 
promising treatment yet.  Earvin "Magic" Johnson returned to 
professional basketball after retiring four years ago when he 
learned he was HIV positive.  President Clinton said he would 
sign a bill forcing all HIV-positive military members to be 
discharged.  AIDS activists say they are optimistic about the new
studies, but claim that Clinton's signing of the defense bill 
will ruin what would otherwise be a rare positive period in the 
fight against AIDS.  "I've never been so happy and so bitter at 
the same time," said Mike Shriver, director of policy at the 
National Association of People With AIDS.  Seeing Johnson return 
to the court bolstered the hopes of many people with HIV.  His 
return "demonstrates that people with AIDS and HIV are people," 
said AIDS activist Mary Fisher.
      
"AIDS-drug Lottery: Life-and-Death Contest"
Miami Herald (02/05/96) P. 1A;  Otto, Mary
     Thousands of people with AIDS have entered a drug lottery, hoping
to be selected to receive Abbott Laboratories' experimental drug 
Norvir (ritonavir).  The lottery system was devised to make new 
drugs available to some while drug companies wait for marketing 
approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.  People with
advanced AIDS cases were able to enter the lottery, and in the 
end, 2,000 people were chosen.  Bob Chapman, a volunteer for 
Project Inform AIDS hotline in San Francisco, is opposed to the 
system, which, he says, "is playing with people with terminal 
illness and putting people in competition with each other."
      
"New Drug Cut AIDS Deaths in Trial"
Toronto Globe and Mail (02/03/96) P. A3;  Immen, Wallace
     Canadian doctors are calling for the approval of a new AIDS drug 
after a clinical trial indicated that it cut the death rate from 
AIDS by nearly half.  Dr. William Cameron, of the University of 
Ottawa, presented results of a study of ritonavir, one of a new 
class of protease inhibitors, which limit the activity of HIV.  
The study enrolled 1,090 advanced AIDS patients, and found that 
of the 550 that received ritonavir, 26 died, compared to 46 in 
the group that did not receive the drug.  In addition, the rate 
of recurrent infections was decreased by some 50 percent.  
Cameron said Friday that "the major question is getting the drug 
on the shelves in a timely manner."
      
"Letters to the Editor: Magic Shouldn't Compete in 1996 
Olympics/Drop All This Paranoia/Not a Real Comeback"
USA Today (02/06/96) P. 10A;  Keshner, Terry;  Stoller, Freddie; 
Peirce, Jerry R.
     In three letters to the editor, readers of USA Today voice their 
feelings about Magic Johnson's return to professional basketball.
Terry Keshner writes that while his return to the sport is a good
example of how HIV-positive people can lead active lives, Johnson
should not be on the 1996 Olympic team because he should allow a
new young player to participate.  Another writer, Freddie 
Stoller, says that the paranoia surrounding Johnson's return is 
unfounded and discriminatory.  Furthermore, reader Jerry Peirce 
takes issue with the paper's comparison of Johnson's comeback to 
that of Mario Lemieux, who returned to the National Hockey League
after undergoing treatment for Hodgkin's disease.
      
"NIH Budget Trouble for AIDS Office?"
Science (01/29/96) Vol.271, No.5247, P. 281
     Congress has voted to fund the National Institutes of Health 
(NIH) through 1996, but the fate of the Office of AIDS Research 
(OAR), which distributes NIH's AIDS funds, remains unknown.  Rep.
John Porter (R-Ill.), who chairs the House panel in charge of NIH
funding, passed a measure in the House to give AIDS money 
directly to each institute.  The Senate bill, however, calls for 
the OAR's funding authority to be sustained.  The NIH funding 
bill passed on Jan. 5 leaves the question of the OAR unanswered. 
President Clinton has said he would protect the OAR.  NIH 
Director Harold Varmus says the matter "is unresolved."
      
"N.Y. Professor Puts Discredited AIDS Theory in Book"
American Medical News (1/22/96-1/29/96) Vol.39, No.4, P. 23
     Peter Duesberg, who lost the science community's respect in 1987 
when he published his theory that HIV does not cause AIDS, is 
promoting his ideas in a new book.  "Inventing the AIDS Virus," 
co-authored by Bryan Ellison, will go on sale in February.  
Duesberg contends that the identification of HIV as the virus 
that causes AIDS was determined too quickly and never properly 
challenged.  His theory has been repeatedly rejected by the AIDS 
research community.  Phyllis Kanki, a virologist at the Harvard 
AIDS Institute, said attention to Duesberg's theory could "impede
the progress of education and intervention programs."  Duesberg, 
however, says the book is the best chance he has for people to 
reconsider his theory.  He says theories like his are important 
to science, because "innovation does not come from a majority in 
science. It always comes from someone considered an outsider."
      
"Infections Making a Deadly Comeback"
Science News (01/20/96) Vol.149, No.3, P. 38;  Seachrist, L.
     A study published in the Journal of the American Medical 
Association indicates that infectious diseases are making a 
comeback, despite the fact that scientists once thought such 
diseases would be wiped out by vaccines and antibiotics.  Ebola, 
HIV, hantavirus and antibiotic-resistant bacteria are examples of
the microbes that are still uncontrolled.  From 1980 to 1992, 
death from infectious disease increased by 58 percent.  
Infections caused by a strain of penicillin-resistant bacteria 
increased by 14 percent from 1991 to 1994.  "Despite historical 
predictions that infectious diseases would wane, that hasn't been
the case," said Robert W. Pinner, of the Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention.  The researchers urge better global 
monitoring of outbreaks and more prudent use of antibiotics.
      
