                     AIDS Daily Summary 
                       August 9, 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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"An Inborn Barrier to the AIDS Virus Is Found in Study" 
"Nature Deals Blow to Viatical Insurers"
"Pharmacia & Upjohn in Marketing Pact with Gilead" 
"Free Test Shows Advancement of AIDS Virus"
"Task Force to Advise on Blood Supply" 
"Across the USA: Wisconsin"
"Nevirapine Now Available Commercially"
"Glaxo's Epivir AIDS Drug Gets European License" 
"HIV and the Pediatrician as the Child's Advocate"
"Control Strategies for Tuberculosis Epidemics: New Models for 
Old Problems"
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"An Inborn Barrier to the AIDS Virus Is Found in Study" 
Wall Street Journal (08/09/96) P. B5; Waldholz, Michael
     AIDS researchers report that some people have a rare gene
that protects them from HIV infection.  The Aaron Diamond AIDS 
Research Center's Richard Koup and colleagues report in today's 
issue of the journal Cell that the gene makes a protein which 
does not allow HIV to enter cells.  The protein, CKR-5, was 
identified in June by five different research groups--including 
the Aaron Diamond Laboratory--as being critical for HIV's entry 
into the cell.  The researchers say that only about 1 percent of 
people of Western European heritage carry the gene but note that 
the findings can be used for drug development.
     
"Nature Deals Blow to Viatical Insurers"
Journal of Commerce (08/09/96) P. 8A; Macleod, Helen R.
     Although companies that buy life insurance policies from the
terminally ill were hurt by the news this month about advances in 
AIDS care, they were also encouraged about the passage of a 
health insurance bill that includes a provision making viatical 
settlements free from federal income tax.  The new policy adds a 
substantial amount to the settlement a terminally ill 
policyholder can expect to receive, while also apparently 
granting approval to the viatical settlement industry.  Improving 
the survival of AIDS patients is good news, of course, but for 
viatical settlement companies longer life means less profit.  
Dignity Partners, for example, recently announced that it would 
no longer buy policies from AIDS patients.
     
"Pharmacia & Upjohn in Marketing Pact with Gilead" 
New York Times (08/09/96) P. D3
     Pharmacia & Upjohn has brokered a deal with Gilead Sciences
in which it will pay Gilead $60 million for the overseas 
marketing rights to Gilead's Vistide, a drug for fighting 
blindness in AIDS patients.  Pharmacia said it would pay Gilead 
$10 million initially and another $10 million after the drug is 
cleared for marketing in Europe.  The company would then acquire 
$40 million on newly issued Gilead preferred shares.  Gilead 
shares close at 19.125, up $1.50 in Nasdaq trading.
     
"Free Test Shows Advancement of AIDS Virus" 
Miami Herald (08/08/96) P. 3B; Rafinski, Karen
     Roche Molecular Systems is offering a free test to
HIV-infected individuals to help them assess the amount of virus 
in their blood.  The test, which helps doctors determine how far 
progressed the disease is, will be free until August 17.  The 
Amplicor HIV-1 Monitor test, while not approved by the Food and 
Drug Administration for this use, is an especially important tool 
for doctors to monitor the use of protease inhibitors.  The test 
usually costs about $123.
     
"Task Force to Advise on Blood Supply" 
Toronto Globe and Mail (08/08/96) P. A4
     Canada's health ministers will be advised by a
federal-provincial task force this fall on how to keep the blood 
supply safe, despite concerns by Justice Horace Krever that the 
task force is a pre-emptive move against the findings of his 
inquiry.  The task force, created in April, includes 
representatives from the federal government, five provinces, and 
experts in transfusion medicine.
     
"Across the USA: Wisconsin"
USA Today (08/09/96) P. 6A
     Donald Hawks, an HIV-positive man who had unprotected sex
with three women, has been issued a six-year prison sentence. 
Hawks pleaded no contest to reckless endangerment.  None of the 
women have tested positive for HIV.
     
"Nevirapine Now Available Commercially" 
Reuters (08/08/96) 
     Viramune (nevirapine), a non-nucleoside reverse
transcriptase inhibitor for the treatment of HIV infection, 
became commercially available on Wednesday.  According to Roxane 
Laboratories, the new drug has a wholesale price of $6.88 for one 
standard daily maintenance dose.  "This price, when compared to 
the currently approved protease inhibitors, which range from 
$12-$18 per day, is significantly lower," notes Roxane's Ed Tupa. 
An Expanded Access Program has provided AIDS patients with 
Viramune since March.
     
"Glaxo's Epivir AIDS Drug Gets European License" 
Reuters (08/08/96) 
     Glaxo Wellcome announced on Thursday that its Epivir, a drug
for the treatment of HIV infection, has been approved by the 
European Commission for use in the 15 member states of the 
European Union.  When used in combination with other drugs, 
Epivir has demonstrated effectiveness in reducing the mortality 
rate of AIDS patients.  The drug is also marketed as 3TC.
     
"HIV and the Pediatrician as the Child's Advocate"
Lancet (07/27/96) Vol. 348, No. 9022, P. 247; Duke, Christopher; 
Kovar, Ilya Z.
     In a review of the laws applying to HIV testing of pregnant
women and their unborn children, Christopher Duke and Ilya Z. 
Kovar of the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London cite the 
details of the law that may be used in doctors' favor to protect 
infants from perinatal infection.  Opponents of mandatory HIV 
testing for pregnant women say it violates their rights, for 
example, yet without it, the rights of the child are abandoned, 
because recognizing and treating vertically transmitted HIV can 
dramatically improve a child's health and survival.  Moreover, 
while confidentiality rules prohibit a doctor from revealing a 
patient's HIV status, confidentiality in the United Kingdom may 
be breached to protect another person's health.  The authors 
claim that this would allow a doctor to disclose that a woman has 
HIV if it would protect her child's health.  Similarly, the 
British law allows disclosure of confidential information if it 
is in the public interest, which would likely include the 
protection of a child's health, they say.  However, if a mother's 
HIV status is disclosed without her consent, disclosure must be 
restricted to only the medical staff who need to know to protect 
the child.
     
"Control Strategies for Tuberculosis Epidemics: New Models for 
Old Problems"
Science (07/26/96) Vol. 273, No. 5274, P. 497; Blower, S.M.; 
Small, P.M.; Hopewell, P.C.
     S.M. Blower, of the University of California at San
Francisco, and colleagues, present a theoretical framework for 
designing effective tuberculosis (TB) control strategies and 
determining treatment levels to eradicate the disease.  Using a 
mathematical model that estimates the disease's pathogenesis, and 
incorporating the population level effects of chemoprophylaxis 
and treatment, they conclude that treatment failure rates must be 
lower in developing countries than in developed countries to 
control TB.  They also contend that the World Health 
Organization's global TB treatment goals for the year 2000 would 
probably not lead to global eradication but would significantly 
reduce morbidity and mortality.  Furthermore, they estimate how 
suboptimal control programs contribute to the evolution of drug 
resistance and suggest that higher standards for treatment should 
be required for programs in developing countries compared to 
those in developed countries.
     
     
