                     AIDS Daily Summary 
                       April 30, 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 National AIDS 
Clearinghouse, or any other organization. Reproduction of this 
text is encouraged; however, copies may not be sold, and the CDC 
National AIDS Clearinghouse should be cited as the source of this 
information. Copyright 1996, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD
     
     
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"NeXstar Drug Is Cleared"
"David Petersen, 54, Pioneer of Financial Plans for the Ill" 
"The Daily Dose"
"AIDS Researcher Is Guilty of Scientific Misconduct" 
"HIV-1 Dementia: An Individual Development"
"JC Virus Linked With AIDS Complications"
"AIDS Drug Dosing Schedule Can Reduce Side Effects"
"Relative Resistance to HIV-1 Infection of CD4 Lymphocytes From 
Persons Who Remain Uninfected Despite Multiple High-Risk Sexual 
Exposures"
"Thalidomide. It's Back"
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"NeXstar Drug Is Cleared"
Wall Street Journal (04/30/96) P. A6
     NeXstar Pharmaceutical's anticancer drug DaunoXome, for the 
treatment of advanced HIV-related Kaposi's sarcoma, has been 
approved in Canada and Austria.
     
"David Petersen, 54, Pioneer of Financial Plans for the Ill" 
New York Times (04/30/96) P. B10;  Van Gelder, Lawrence
     David D. Petersen, a leader in advising AIDS patients on
selling their life insurance policies for cash, died from 
complications of the disease on Monday.  Petersen played a key 
role in improving the terms of the fees paid by companies that 
buy life insurance and was known for his efforts to provide 
financial hope for the terminally ill.  He also promoted the 
formation of a viatical settlement industry association and 
facilitated meetings between the industry and insurance 
regulators.  Besides proposing viatical sales, Petersen worked to 
improve health insurance coverage and Medicare benefits for the 
seriously and chronically ill and was involved in various 
volunteer organizations.
     
"The Daily Dose"
Washington Post Magazine (04/28/96) P. 13;  Goldstein, Amy
     Emerson Dorsey works for the Washington, D.C. Tuberculosis 
Bureau, taking tuberculosis (TB) pills to city residents who have 
proved themselves unwilling or unable to take responsibility for 
their own treatment.  He travels throughout the city, enforcing 
directly observed therapy.  Consistent treatment is necessary in 
order to cure TB, to prevent drug-resistant strains from 
developing, and to protect the public from the disease.  Dorsey's 
clients include a drug addict, an AIDS patient, and a woman with 
cancer.
     
"AIDS Researcher Is Guilty of Scientific Misconduct" 
Reuters (04/29/96)
     A nurse at the Denver Community Program for Clinical
Research on AIDS at the department of public health has been 
found guilty of altering research data to allow ineligible 
patients to qualify for AIDS-related clinical trials.  According 
to the Department of Health and Human Services, which based its 
conclusions on the nurse's statements and an audit by the 
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Joan Gans 
admitted to committing scientific misconduct.  Gans has agreed 
not to participate in any federally funded research for a 
two-year period, during which time her work will be supervised.
     
"HIV-1 Dementia: An Individual Development" 
Reuters (04/29/96)
     HIV-1-related dementia seems to be an isolated development, 
rather than the clinical culmination of mental impairment that 
can occur as HIV infection progresses, Scottish researchers 
report in the latest issue of AIDS.  Guy M. Goodwin and 
colleagues at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital evaluated the 
development of dementia in 404 HIV-positive injection drug users. 
After 10 years, 26 developed HIV-1-related dementia, which was 
found to be related to a more advanced stage of systemic disease, 
declines in CD4 cell counts, and reduced survival compared to 
non-demented controls.
     
"JC Virus Linked With AIDS Complications" 
Reuters (04/29/96)
     JC virus DNA was found in the peripheral blood leukocytes of
a high proportion of people with HIV, French researchers report 
in the journal AIDS.  This finding supports previous studies 
which proposed an association between the JC virus and AIDS and 
provide "a better understanding of the role of peripheral blood 
leukocytes in the development of progressive multifocal 
leukoencephalopathy," the researchers said.  Dr. Marie-Edith 
Lafon and colleagues at the University of Bordeaux found JC virus 
DNA in the peripheral blood leukocytes of 28.9 percent of 135 
HIV-positive patients and only 16.4 percent of 61 HIV-negative, 
but immunocompromised, patients.  Lafon said she was surprised to 
find that the clinical status and severity of lymphopenia and a 
low CD4 cell count did not appear to correlate with detectable JC 
virus DNA.
     
"AIDS Drug Dosing Schedule Can Reduce Side Effects" 
International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care (04/25/96)
     Alternate dosing guidelines for Abbott Laboratories'
protease inhibitor Ritonavir are proposed in the April issue of 
the Journal of the International Association of Physicians in 
AIDS Care.  Abbott officials have acknowledged that gradually 
increasing the initial dose of the drug over the first 14 days 
has been found to help reduce the side effects often associated 
with the drug.  The journal also contains a monograph on 
Ritonavir, information on dosing studies of Ritonavir and 
Saquinavir, and a comparison of Ritonavir and Indinavir.
     
"Relative Resistance to HIV-1 Infection of CD4 Lymphocytes From 
Persons Who Remain Uninfected Despite Multiple High-Risk Sexual 
Exposures"
Nature Medicine (04/96) Vol. 2, No. 4, P. 412;  Paxton, William 
A.;  Martin, Scott R.;  Tse, Doris; et al.
     Some individuals remain HIV-negative despite numerous sexual
exposures to the virus.  William A. Paxton, of the Aaron Diamond 
Research Center and New York University School of Medicine, and 
colleagues studied 25 such individuals and found that, in 
laboratory tests, their CD8 lymphocytes had greater anti-HIV-1 
activity than did the CD8 cells from nonexposed controls.  The 
exposed group's CD4 cells were also found to be less susceptible 
to infection with HIV-1 than CD4 cells from the nonexposed group. 
The resistance, which was restricted by the envelope glycoprotein 
of HIV-1, was associated with the activity of the C-C chemokines 
RANTES, MIP-1(Alpha), and MIP-1(Beta).  These substances were able 
to inhibit replication of primary isolates of the virus.  
According to the authors, this resistance in CD4 cells may 
contribute to the protection from HIV-1 in repeatedly exposed 
people.
     
"Thalidomide. It's Back"
Business Week (04/22/96) No. 3472, P. 46;  Leonhardt, David
     Thalidomide, well-known for the disfiguring birth defects it
caused in 10,000 children born in the early 1960s, is being 
brought back by drug companies to fight some of the world's worst 
diseases.  Andrulis Pharmaceuticals has reported that tests show 
the drug cures ulcers in AIDS patients, and Celgene is selling 
thalidomide, with aggressive warnings, to AIDS patients who did 
not qualify for clinical trials.  Drug firms are making the 
drug's side effects known, which may limit liability if the drug 
were to cause a reaction in a patient.  The drug may stop 
production of a protein that can cause rapid weight loss in AIDS 
and cancer patients.  Thalidomide may also inhibit HIV 
replication and eliminate oral ulcers caused by AIDS.  Companies 
testing the drug may seek Food and Drug Administration approval 
this year.
     
     
