Date: Mon, 11 Dec 1995 09:34:46 +0500 From: ghmcleaf{CONTRACTOR/ASPEN/ghmcleaf}%NAC-GATEWAY.ASPEN@ace.aspensys.com Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary 12/11/95 AIDS Daily Summary December 11, 1995 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 ************************************************************ "New Chiron Method for Treating AIDS-Related Illness Wins OK" "Stressed for Success" "EU Plans to Relax Curbs on R&D Aid" "AIDS: The Truth at Last?" "Across the USA: New Jersey" "Blood-Sucking Fly Plague Hits Australian City" "When Families Live with AIDS" "Zaire Orders Brothels to Close" "Inhibitors of HIV Nucleocapsid Protein Zinc Fingers as Candidates for the Treatment of AIDS" "The Magic Bullet" ************************************************************ "New Chiron Method for Treating AIDS-Related Illness Wins OK" Investor's Business Daily (12/11/95) P. A17 An advisory panel to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommended on Friday the approval of Chiron Corp.'s Vitrasert, an implant that would directly administer to the eye drugs for a potentially blinding disease in AIDS patients. Cytomegalovirus (CMV) retinitis affects as many as 40 percent of all AIDS patients, often when they have less than one year to live. Vitrasert would deliver Roche Holding AG's Cytovene (ganciclovir) via a time-release delivery system implanted in the eye. The panelists recommended that Chiron undertake further studies to determine how the implant might be used with other drugs to treat CMV symptoms throughout the body. They also voiced concerns about a side effect, which caused some patients' retinas to detach from their eyes. Related Stories: Wall Street Journal (12/11) P. B6; Boston Globe (12/09) P. 40 "Stressed for Success" Washington Post (12/11/95) P. A1; Boodman, Sandra D. A Washington Post survey of more than 700 Washington, D.C. area teenagers reveals a high level of stress in their lives--stress related to such issues as grades, whether to have sex, and the spread of AIDS. Sixty percent of the 16- and 17-year-olds reported stress, and girls were more likely to report the problem than boys. When asked if contracting HIV was something they worried about, the various age groups responded quite differently. Forty-five percent of the 12- to 13-year-old group reported worrying a lot, compared to 30 percent of the 14- to 15-year-old group and 36 percent of the 16- to 17-year-old group. Meanwhile, 17 percent of the youngest group reported worrying a little, versus 37 percent and 33 percent in the 14- to 15-age group and 16- to 17-age group, respectively. Also, 38 percent of the 12- to 13-year olds said they did not worry much about AIDS, while 32 percent of 14- to 15-year-olds and 30 percent of 16- to 17-year-olds reported that same sentiment. Finally, 76 percent of the female respondents and 61 percent of the male respondents said that today's teens are under too much pressure to have sex. Still, some 90 percent of the respondents said they were satisfied with their lives and an equal percentage said they are happy. "EU Plans to Relax Curbs on R&D Aid" Journal of Commerce (12/11/95) P. 9A; Butler, Katherine The European Union last week proposed relaxing limits on state aid for research and development to the maximum allowed under the most recent world trade agreement. The move, designed to make Europe more competitive with the United States, received clearance from the EU's executive but still requires approval from the bloc's 15 governments. Small companies residing in the EU's poorest states would receive priority, as would projects included in an EU research action program such as the search for an effective AIDS vaccine. If the United States or Japan raised their subsidies for research, the EU would permit its governments to spend even more, said Karel Van Miert, EU competition commissioner. "AIDS: The Truth at Last?" Investor's Business Daily (12/11/95) P. A2; Fumento, Michael A new study published in the journal Science indicates an AIDS epidemic that is both smaller than the government has said and one that clearly discriminates, writes Reason Magazine's Michael Fumento in a guest editorial in the Investor's Business Daily. Fumento notes the overwhelming differences between infected groups. In January 1993, for example, just one in 2,000 white women between the ages of 18 and 59 was infected, compared to one in 204 white males. Furthermore, the rate for black females was one in 135, the rate for black males was one in 44, and the rates among Hispanics were one in 294 females and one in 69 males. Study author Philip Rosenberg of the National Cancer Institute used a technique called back calculation which involves looking at the number of current AIDS cases and then calculating back to when the infections must have occurred. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, meanwhile, has been forced to lower its projections as well as its infection estimate. Fumento claims that by denying the true risk factors involved in AIDS, the people least at risk live in terror while those most at risk become complacent. "Across the USA: New Jersey" USA Today (12/11/95) P. 11A New Jersey Insurance Commissioner Elizabeth Randall has rejected a proposal that would have allowed group insurers to test for HIV and deny coverage to individuals who test positive. "Blood-Sucking Fly Plague Hits Australian City" Reuters (12/11/95) Entomologists in Perth, Australia, say that the blood-sucking Stomoxys fly is encroaching on the city. The state's agricultural department has had reports of the fly in the city's northern, eastern, and southern suburbs. The flies--which are more commonly known as the stable, dog, or lawnmower fly--are capable of carrying a variety of diseases, including salmonella and shigellosis. "They have also demonstrated in the laboratory to be capable of carrying HIV but that's never been measured in the field. It's only theoretical," noted department entomologist Ian Dadour. "When Families Live with AIDS" St. Louis Post-Dispatch (12/08/95) P. 1C; Shirk, Martha Project ARK (AIDS/HIV Resources for Kids), a joint project of the Washington University and St. Louis University schools of medicine, is a one-stop service facilitator for families affected by HIV and AIDS. Dr. Gregory Storch, Project ARK's medical director, explained that the program should help round out the gaps in services to such families. "The needs of children with HIV and AIDS and their families are very great, and they're not always being met," he commented. The program is being financed with a renewable $428,000 federal grant. "Zaire Orders Brothels to Close" Reuters (12/08/95) Zaire's Justice Ministry has demanded the closure of the nation's brothels, threatening those running them with legal action if they do not comply. Prostitution is one of the few professions to prosper in the Central African country's economy. Professional prostitutes have been joined by students and housewives, providing the only income for their families. This, in turn, has enabled the spread of HIV in a nation already significantly affected by the epidemic. A 1994 study estimated that 7 percent to 8 percent of the capital city Kinshasa's population and up to 40 percent of the prostitutes are infected with HIV. "Inhibitors of HIV Nucleocapsid Protein Zinc Fingers as Candidates for the Treatment of AIDS" Science (11/17/95) Vol. 270, No. 5239, P. 1194; Rice, William G.; Supko, Jeffrey G.; Malspeis, Louis; et al. In the war against HIV, HIV-1 nucleocapsid protein zinc fingers are key antiviral objectives because they are intolerant to mutation, and are necessary for both acute infection and virion assembly, report Rice et al. in the journal Science. The researchers identified nontoxic compounds called disulfide-substituted benzamides that attack the zinc fingers, immobilize cell-free virions, block acute and chronic infections, and display extensive antiretroviral activity. The compounds demonstrated a high rate of synergy with such antiviral agents as AZT, and the researchers were unsuccessful in isolating resistant mutants. The scientists concluded that zinc finger-reactive compounds may be useful in the development of an effective HIV-fighting drug. "The Magic Bullet" Advocate (11/28/95) No. 695, P. 40; Wells, Ken R. Donald Francis, head of Genentech Inc.'s AIDS vaccine program, claims that shortsightedness and greed on the part of pharmaceutical companies and other investors have diverted limited funds from the development of preventive vaccines for HIV. "Business advisers will tell you that developing a cure for AIDS is more profitable than preventing it," Francis notes. The researcher says that investors prefer therapeutic vaccines over preventive ones primarily because they would generate greater sales. Yet scientific skepticism may also play a role in the alleged abandonment of preventive vaccines. Many researchers, while optimistic about future prospects, believe that a useful vaccine could be decades away--a time line that is also discouraging to private investors. A third factor in the reluctance of drug companies to invest in preventive vaccines is product liability, according to Jeff Works, CFO at Viagene Inc. Works concedes that firms are worried about facing costly lawsuits if, when testing a vaccine, people became sick or infected, though he rejects the notion that such research is being neglected for profit reasons. A preventive product "may not be as profitable as a therapeutic vaccine, but it would still be profitable," he says.