Date: Tue, 11 Jul 1995 09:59:21 +0500 From: ghfostel{CONTRACTOR/ASPEN/ghfostel}%NAC-GATEWAY.ASPEN@ace.aspensys.com AIDS Daily Summary July 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 ************************************************************ "Sandoz Offers $295m for Pioneer in Gene Therapy" "Corrections Chief Punishes 4 in Death of D.C. Jail Inmate" "M.D.s Fail to Counsel Teens on Sex" "Do You Know What Your Kids Are Doing?" "AIDS Tests for All Pregnant Women" "5 Arrested Protesting Closed AIDS Meeting" "Across the USA: South Dakota" "Anti-AIDS Drug Promising" "Staging System for Clinical AIDS Patients" "Bye-Bye Bipartisanship" "Notice of Public Meeting" ************************************************************ "Sandoz Offers $295m for Pioneer in Gene Therapy" Financial Times (07/11/95) P. 16; Green, Daniel Sandoz has offered to purchase Genetic Therapy Inc. (GTI) for $295 million, marking its first major corporate move since the demerger of its Clariant chemicals division. Sandoz Pharma Chief Executive Daniel Vasella says, "Gene therapy will change medicine in the next century and we want to own that technology." GTI's patent covering the gene therapy on human cells removed from the body compliments the goals of Systemix, Sandoz's biotechnology partner. Systemix is currently developing gene therapy on bone marrow cells to design a treatment which confers immunity to HIV. Related Stories: New York Times (07/11) P. D4; Wall Street Journal (07/11) P. B3; Baltimore Sun (07/11) P. 10C; Washington Post (07/11) P. D1 "Corrections Chief Punishes 4 in Death of D.C. Jail Inmate" Washington Post (07/11/95) P. B1; Locy, Toni A physician, a physician assistant, and a nurse have all been suspended pending a probe of the June 6 death an inmate with AIDS at the D.C. jail, who died while tied to a wheelchair with a urine-soaked sheet, said D.C. Corrections Director Margaret A. Moore on Monday. Another physician assistant who worked for an independent contractor has been fired, Moore added. Describing Richard C. Johnson's death as "inexcusable" and "inhumane," Moore announced that she has asked the U.S. attorney's office and the internal affairs division of the Washington, D.C., police department to investigate the incident. Johnson was serving a five- to 16-year sentence for various drug convictions. AIDS had weakened him such that he could not walk to the toilet across the cell. For more than a week, the prison's medical staff would not go near him to give him his medication because of the odor. Moore's announcement came on the eve of a hearing before Senior U.S. District Judge William Bryant, who will determine whether to place the jail's medical and mental health services in receivership. Related Story: USA Today (07/11) P. 6A "M.D.s Fail to Counsel Teens on Sex" USA Today (07/11/95) P. 1D; Elias, Marilyn According to a new study from the Harvard Medical School, teenagers want doctors to give them the facts about how to avoid HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. Most physicians, however, do not offer such information, and the teens are often too embarrassed to voluntarily bring up sexual matters. "Teens are starving for information on every aspect of sex, and they see doctors as experts who can impart it," notes Dr. Lee Rawitscher. The survey of Boston-area high school students, reported in the journal Pediatrics, found that 85 percent of teenagers wanted doctors to give them information about HIV, though only 27 percent had ever discussed the virus with them. Nearly 70 percent said they wished doctors would ask if they had practiced safe sex, and 70 percent said they would not feel comfortable bringing up sex themselves. Rawitscher says that some doctors avoid sexual issues because they feel poorly informed or too rushed. "Do You Know What Your Kids Are Doing?" Washington Post (Health) (07/11/95) P. 10; Russell, Cristine Despite major public health campaigns to warn young people about dangerous activities, a new report from the National Center for Health Statistics shows that unhealthy behavior often begins early and reaches high levels during the teenage years. The report cautions that "a substantial number of U.S. youth are engaging in risk-taking behaviors that can lead to chronic disease, injury, and death." Among other dangers, the survey found that youths were at great risk for unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases, such as AIDS. More than 40 percent of those surveyed reported having had more than one sex partner, and among those aged 18 to 21, the figure climbed to 60 percent. Only about half of all sexually experienced youths used condoms the last time they had sex. In addition, black adolescents were more likely to have used condoms than white or Hispanic adolescents. Overall, the survey found that risky health habits are relatively common among youths of all ages, sexes, races, and educational groups. "AIDS Tests for All Pregnant Women" Washington Post (07/11/95) P. A16 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) now recommends that doctors and hospitals advise all pregnant women, in addition to injection drug users and prostitutes, to be tested for HIV. This recommendation is primarily the result of a recent study which found that administering AZT during pregnancy and delivery can reduce by two-thirds the risk of perinatal HIV transmission. Because not all women will heed the counseling and advice for the tests, however, Congress is now considering legislation that will require HIV testing of newborns. This effort deserves support, write the editors of the Washington Post, because it appears that an HIV-positive infant could be immediately treated with AZT. Testing could also reduce HIV transmission through breastfeeding, and would identify infants for additional health care. These are among the reasons the CDC lists in support of voluntary testing of all pregnant women--reasons which the Post claims are sufficient to require the routine HIV testing of all newborns. "5 Arrested Protesting Closed AIDS Meeting" Washington Times (07/11/95) P. C6 After trying to enter a closed meeting of the AIDS Research Evaluation Working Group of the Office of AIDS Research for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), five people were arrested and now face charges of trespassing. Approximately 70 people gathered to protest the federal panel's first meeting being closed to the public, ACT UP New York said. NIH noted that some members of ACT UP are on the committee, and that open meetings will be held in the future so that others can participate. "Across the USA: South Dakota" USA Today (07/11/95) P. 6A In Mission, S.D., funeral services will be held today for White Eagle, a tenor who performed at the 1989 inauguration of President Bush. White Eagle, 43, died last Friday from AIDS-related complications. "Anti-AIDS Drug Promising" Washington Times (07/10/95) P. A14 Hoffmann-La Roche Inc. reports that its drug Invirase showed encouraging results in tests of HIV's ability to develop resistance to drugs designed to kill it. Human studies of Invirase indicate that HIV develops only moderate and slow resistance to the drug. "Staging System for Clinical AIDS Patients" Lancet (07/01/95) Vol. 346, No. 8966, P. 12; Mocroft, Amanda J.; Johnson, Margaret A.; Sabin, Caroline A. et al. Mocroft et al. propose dividing AIDS patients into a single staging system that accounts for prognostic factors such as type and number of AIDS-related diseases and CD4 lymphocyte count. A finer distinction would be useful in circumstances including designing entry and endpoint criteria in clinical trials, they note. The researchers followed more than 350 AIDS patients in England and reported the occurrence of 680 AIDS-defining diseases (ADDs). The severity of the ADDs was defined on the basis of survival in the AIDS in Europe study of close to 6,600 AIDS patients--mild included Kaposi's sarcoma, Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, and extrapulmonary tuberculosis; severe included all other ADDs except lymphoma, which was rated very severe. The risk of death increased 15 percent for each mild condition experienced, by nearly 90 percent for each new severe condition, and by 535 percent when a lymphoma appeared. Using the Cox model, the researchers concluded that patients in AIDS Grade I had a mean death rate of one per 10.1 years, compared with one in 2.8 years in AIDS Grade II and one in 1.1 years in AIDS Grade III. The authors feel their staging system would be useful for patient management, clinical trial design, surveillance, and resource management. "Bye-Bye Bipartisanship" Advocate (07/11/95) No. 685, P. 24; Bull, Chris White House AIDS policy director Patricia S. Fleming's verbal battle with gay Republican congressman Steve Gunderson (R-Wis.) over Medicare reductions could make life difficult for lobbyists trying to establish a bipartisan coalition on AIDS issues. In early June, for example, Fleming called the proposed GOP cuts in Medicaid spending "as much of a threat" to AIDS patients as "the virus in their bodies." Gunderson responded, calling Fleming's remark "cruel, callous, and insensitive." The debate focused on recent Republican budget proposals approved by both the House and the Senate that would reduce medicaid funding by more than $150 billion, and shift control of the program to individual state governments. Since January, when the Republicans took control of Congress, AIDS lobbyists have upheld a working coalition of Democrats and moderate Republicans. Gunderson, for example, successfully blocked a proposal to eliminate the Ryan White CARE Act. Fleming's debate with Gunderson, however, brought the coalition's different beliefs out into the open, casting moderate Republicans who value fiscal austerity against Democrats who oppose almost any cuts in AIDS programs. "Notice of Public Meeting" Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (07/06/95) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will host a public meeting to discuss the implementation and evaluation of U.S. Public Health Service recommendations for counseling and testing pregnant women. The purpose of this meeting is to obtain individual comments on the following: strategies to prevent HIV infection among women and children; strategies to ensure that women and newborns who are infected are entered into a continuum of services; and the considerations involved in monitoring the epidemic in women and children in general. The meeting will be held at the Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel, 210 Peachtree Street, NW, Atlanta Georgia, on July 11 and 12, from 8:30 am - 5:00 pm. To make hotel reservations, please contact the Westin Peachtree Plaza at (404) 659-1400. For additional information, call Francess Page at (202) 690-6373.