Date: Mon, 24 Jul 1995 09:39:52 +0500 From: ghmcleaf{CONTRACTOR/ASPEN/ghmcleaf}%NAC-GATEWAY.ASPEN@ace.aspensys.com AIDS Daily Summary July 24, 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 ************************************************************ "AIDS Patients Can Get Discount Drugs by Mail" "Advertising: Tanqueray Pulls Out the Stops for Bike Events to Benefit AIDS Patients, and Mr. Jenkins Rides Along" "Inside the Beltway: Beyond Ron" "One Woman's Campaign to Stop AIDS" "Safe Sex Ads Stir Up Edmontonians" "Massive NIH AIDS Priority Review Panel Begins Work Against a Daunting Schedule" "Intracellular Expression of Antibody Fragments Directed Against HIV Reverse Transcriptase Prevents HIV Infection In Vitro" "Combining L-697,661 with AZT May Delay Resistance" "The Hospital Rankings" ************************************************************ "AIDS Patients Can Get Discount Drugs by Mail" Washington Times (07/24/95) P. A6 A new mail-order prescription service offers discount medicine for people with HIV and AIDS with the added benefit of complete confidentiality. MedExpress will provide drugs, vitamins, and nutrients at 25 to 30 percent lower prices than those charged by commercial mail-order pharmacies, says William J. Freeman, executive director of the National Association of People with AIDS. In addition, the service will automatically enroll customers in the advocacy group and provide information on living with HIV. Orders can be placed using a toll-free number, 1-800-808-8060, and the medicine will be delivered within one to two days in packaging that gives no indication that it contains drugs for people with HIV or AIDS, a MedExpress brochure says. At least three commercial companies also gear their mail-order sales to HIV-infected people. Related Story: Baltimore Sun (07/24) P. 7A "Advertising: Tanqueray Pulls Out the Stops for Bike Events to Benefit AIDS Patients, and Mr. Jenkins Rides Along" New York Times (07/24/95) P. D9; Elliott, Stuart Tanqueray gin has launched an extensive advertising campaign that focuses on the company's sponsorship of a series of bicycle rides that benefit AIDS organizations. The brand liquor's advertising icon, Mr. Jenkins, is a key figure in the campaign who in many ads directs computer users to the World Wide Web site for the AIDS rides. The Schieffelin & Somerset Company, the division of Guinness P.L.C. that imports the gin, is allotting 15 to 20 percent of Tanqueray's total $27 million U.S. marketing communications budget to the AIDS rides program. The rides, which began last year in California, will be extended to the East Coast in September and are supposed to reach the South and Midwest in 1996. A growing number of advertisers are trying to enhance their appeal by linking themselves with social and political issues. Very few, however, participate in AIDS-related causes due to the stigma that continues to surround the disease. Schieffelin & Somerset's Deborah Callahan acknowledged that the sponsorship "makes a statement that some people are uncomfortable about. But that's just fine." "Inside the Beltway: Beyond Ron" Washington Times (07/24/95) P. A6; McCaslin, John Rep. Ron Packard (R-Calif.) has had a difficult time dealing with the Clinton administration mandate that require AIDS training for all federal employees, which includes such subjects as anal sex as birth control, how-to lessons on the use of condoms, and how to clean needles before shooting up injection drugs. "Why the government is involved in teaching people how to use illicit drugs and how to be involved in aberrant sex techniques is beyond me," Packard says. "One Woman's Campaign to Stop AIDS" Washington Post (07/22/95) P. C1; Wilgoren, Debbi Rae Lewis-Thornton, the daughter of heroin-addicted parents who was raised by an alcoholic grandmother in a poor neighborhood of Chicago, overcame her childhood difficulties to become one of Washington's young African American elite with a bright political future. On Friday, however, she told teenagers from Mayor Marion Barry's Youth Leadership Institute that her accomplishments have become irrelevant because she has AIDS--the result of having had unprotected sex more than 10 years ago. Lewis-Thornton frankly answered any questions asked, including describing the chronic fatigue and painful infections that are part of the disease. "She changed my whole view," said one student, who has had sex but now plans to abstain until she has "figured everything out." This type of result is the reason Lewis-Thornton has spent the past year speaking at churches, schools, and other organizations across the country. She considers her campaign her ministry, one that has replaced her dreams of running political campaigns and teaching at a respected university. "Safe Sex Ads Stir Up Edmontonians" Toronto Globe and Mail (07/21/95) P. A2; Feschuk, Scott When the Edmonton AIDS Network began to design its latest AIDS prevention campaign, it decided that a new, candid approach was necessary. It felt that some people ignore the condom ads and safe-sex campaigns, which no longer tend to shock and, thus, do not attract as much attention. Therefore, if judged by controversy, the network's new campaign is already a success. The initiative, called Safe Sex, is geared to young people aged 16 to 24, an age category in which an increasing number of people are testing HIV-positive. Its posters feature a picture of a heterosexual couple having sex and the sentence, "Don't Be a ----ing Idiot." So-called Life Paks--which contain condoms, lubricant, and HIV risk-reduction methods and will be distributed throughout the city--also include pictures of couples in erotic poses. Although the expletive in the poster is attracting a lot of attention, organizers feel the real value of the campaign is how it uses street language to describe avoiding AIDS while still having a good time. It may seem a minor point, they say, but youths have a way of ignoring warnings that appear to come from authority figures. "Massive NIH AIDS Priority Review Panel Begins Work Against a Daunting Schedule" Scientist (07/10/95) Vol. 9, No. 14, P. 1; Goodman, Billy A new task force for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has begun the awesome task of completing a comprehensive reevaluation of NIH's entire $1.4 billion AIDS portfolio. The scientists and AIDS activists who make up the task force must work quickly to produce a report by January 1996 to aid in the planning of the 1998 budget for the Office of AIDS Research. Each of the six panels that constitute the task force must produce a report on research priorities in its field by late summer or early fall. Understandably, some members have concerns about the study, including whether they can get the data from the 24 NIH institutes in time and whether their recommendations will make a difference. Interviews with several panel members, however, suggest widespread confidence that their efforts will mean something and "not just sit on a shelf," as one said. The AIDS Research Evaluation Working Group, which was mandated by the NIH Revitalization Act of 1993, is led by Princeton University virologist Arnold Levine. Although he is known for his work on the p53 tumor suppressor oncogene, Levine does not conduct AIDS research--which other members of the task force see as beneficial. "We're bringing a new, bright guy into the field," said one. "Intracellular Expression of Antibody Fragments Directed Against HIV Reverse Transcriptase Prevents HIV Infection In Vitro" Nature Medicine (07/95) Vol. 1, No. 7, P. 667; Maciejewski, Jaroslaw P.; Weichold, Frank F.; Young, Neal S. et al. Maciejewski et al. tested a new method of intracellular immunization to determine whether intracellular antibody fragments recognizing HIV reverse transcriptase (RT) could protect cells from becoming infected with HIV-1. To express a particular antibody within a cell, the researchers used a transduction of genes that encode for immunoglobulin chains with specificity to viral RT. They found that inhibition of this enzyme makes cells HIV-resistant by blocking an early stage of viral replication. The researchers conclude that the study illustrated that an anti-RT monoclonal antibody fragment ,if high-efficiency transduction can be achieved, could be an effective therapy against HIV. "Combining L-697,661 with AZT May Delay Resistance" AIDS Clinical Care (07/95) Vol. 7, No. 7, P. 61 A double-blind study conducted by Staszewski et al. indicates that combining L-697,661 with AZT could prolong susceptibility to this non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase (RT) inhibitor. A total of 119 subjects with CD4 counts between 200 and 500 received either L-697,661; AZT; or a combination of the two drugs. The groups that received AZT had increases in average CD4 count for up to 24 weeks. The group that received only L-697,661, however, had consistent declines in CD4 levels, and after seven weeks, all members showed evidence of drug resistance. Those who received combination therapy did not develop substantial L-697,661 resistance until after at least 16 weeks. Molecular analyses showed that AZT exposure suppressed the major RT mutation conferring L-697,661 resistance. The combination therapy was well tolerated for as long as 48 weeks. Although this study indicates that L-697,661 is not useful alone because of the rapid onset of resistance, it does indicate that the drug could be useful when combined with AZT. "The Hospital Rankings" U.S. News & World Report (07/24/95) Vol. 119, No. 4, P. 61 U.S. News & World Report's sixth annual report provides rankings of America's major medical centers in 16 specialties. The leading hospital that specializes in AIDS patients is San Francisco General Hospital Medical Center. It has a 1.19 ratio of interns and residents to beds, a 1.52 ratio of nurses to beds, and a 0.011 ratio of board-certified internists to beds. The top five is completed by Johns Hopkins Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, University of California (UC) at San Francisco Medical Center, and UC at Los Angeles Medical Center, respectively. The four leading hospitals in this year's top forty have maintained their positions for three straight years.