Date: Tue, 28 Mar 1995 09:33:04 +0500 From: ghmcleaf{CONTRACTOR/ASPEN/ghmcleaf}%NAC-GATEWAY.ASPEN@ace.aspensys.com AIDS Daily Summary March 28, 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 ************************************************************ "U.S. Begins Probe of District AIDS Clinic" "Hemophiliacs Would Get More Time to Sue" "Lawyer Sees Tie to AIDS in Vaccine" "Many Drug Companies Scale Back Research in New Cost Climate" "Condom Companies in U.S. Eye Sales Growth Abroad" "Across the USA: Indiana" "The Cost Effectiveness of Preoperative Autologous Blood Donations" "Patients Can Recover from HIV-Positive Doctor" "AIDS Drugs Count Up" "HIV and Alcohol Abuse among Latina Youth" ************************************************************ "U.S. Begins Probe of District AIDS Clinic" Washington Post (03/28/95) P. B1; Goldstein, Amy The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is investigating allegations of discrimination at the Abundant Life Clinic, an AIDS treatment center in Washington, D.C. The clinic was notified last week of the probe involving claims that the clinic has failed to treat patients of all races and nationalities--a violation of federal law. Abundant Life, a significant source of alternative medical treatment for poor African Americans in the metropolitan area who have HIV or AIDS, receives federal AIDS grants to subsidize its work and is therefore subject to U.S. anti-discrimination statutes. The clinic is directed by Abdul Alim Muhammad, a doctor who is the national spokesman for Louis Farrakhan, minister of the Nation of Islam. Muhammad treats his patients with an unproven drug that he claims is a potential cure for AIDS. He says the government is preparing to begin a long-delayed clinical trial of the drug, low-dose alpha interferon, and that Abundant Life will be one of the 12 sites participating in the federally funded trial. On Monday, the doctor said the clinic "has no policy of discrimination" and called the probe a form of religious harassment. "Hemophiliacs Would Get More Time to Sue" Philadelphia Inquirer (03/28/95) P. B4; Shaw, Donna On Monday, a New Jersey Assembly panel voted unanimously in favor of a bill that would give HIV-infected hemophiliacs additional time to sue drug companies whose medicines were tainted with HIV. The vote came just two weeks after the state Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approved the same measure. The bill will now go to the full Assembly and Senate. The legislation would open a window in New Jersey's statute of limitations, giving hemophiliacs one year to sue one or more of the four pharmaceutical companies involved. Proponents of the measure claim that lawsuits filed against the drug companies are in danger of being dismissed because they were not filed until after the two-year statute of limitations had expired. The plasma industry, however, says the bill is unconstitutional and contrary to the goals of personal injury lawsuit reform. "Lawyer Sees Tie to AIDS in Vaccine" Boston Globe (03/27/95) P. 15 A New Hampshire lawyer who thinks he may have discovered how HIV spread from monkeys to humans is urging the government to release data from tests it conducted on a polio vaccine in the 1970s. Walter Kyle, who represents people harmed by vaccines, found that an oral polio vaccine made from monkey tissue was used as an experimental treatment for herpes sores in homosexuals in New York City and California. Kyle and a consumer advocacy group have convinced the Food and Drug Administration to investigate the possibility that test subjects may have become infected with HIV. "Many Drug Companies Scale Back Research in New Cost Climate" Wall Street Journal (03/28/95) P. A10; Browning, E.S. As changes in healthcare economics affect the drug business, even the wealthiest companies are cutting back. Most companies are not reducing research spending, only reducing its growth rate. The increasing complexity and expense of new medicines, however, has caused companies to eliminate some projects they once would have supported. Drug-company research staffs are also being reduced, a trend spurred by mergers. At universities, companies now "aren't funding the creative research, the stuff that isn't required to get drugs on the market," says Peggy Carver of the University of Michigan. Carver is studying how AIDS patients' bodies absorb the many drugs they take simultaneously. She frequently wakes up early to draw blood from the patients herself because she cannot always afford to hire a nurse. Dr. Richard Chizzonite, a scientist at Hoffmann-La Roche, is afraid the changes will mean less innovation. He points to interleukin 12 as an example. The potential cancer-fighter survived four years of delays during the 1980s, which, he says, probably would not have happened today. "Condom Companies in U.S. Eye Sales Growth Abroad" Journal of Commerce (03/28/95) P. 5A; Green, Paula L. The U.S. condom industry is looking to foreign buyers as a way to offset the slowdown in domestic sales. Companies want to use the United States' reputation for quality standards to boost international sales. "A lot of Latin American countries have opened their import markets, and there's a perceived acceptance of the quality of U.S.-made products," says Richard Hickling, an executive with Ansell Inc., a leading producer of condoms. Although condom manufacturers experienced double-digit sales increases in the late 1980s due to media attention on AIDS, U.S. growth has slowed. Last year's domestic condom sales increased about 3 percent, totaling $178 million. Sales to institutions such as the World Health Organization and the U.S. Agency for International Development (AID) are a significant part of the international market. AID, for example, distributes condoms free or at a subsidized rate to health ministries and nongovernmental organizations in developing countries. The agency shipped almost 500 million condoms overseas last year. "Across the USA: Indiana" USA Today (03/28/95) P. 10A In Westville, Ind., a dental hygiene student has tested HIV-negative six weeks after being exposed to the virus while treating an inmate at the Westville Correctional Center, according to the South Bend Tribune. The Indiana University-Northwest student was exposed to the virus in January. "The Cost Effectiveness of Preoperative Autologous Blood Donations" New England Journal of Medicine (03/16/95) Vol. 332, No. 11, P. 719; Etchason, Jeff; Petz, Lawrence; Keeler, Emmett et al. In response to concerns of contracting HIV during blood transfusions, there has been increasing public and professional support for autologous blood donations before elective surgery. Using a decision-analysis model, Etchason et al. evaluated the cost effectiveness of donating autologous blood for four surgical procedures. Cost effectiveness was expressed as dollars per quality-adjusted year of life saved. The researchers found that substituting autologous blood for allogeneic blood resulted in little expected health benefit at a significantly higher cost, ranging from $68 to $4,783 a unit. The additional cost was primarily due to the discarding of units that were donated but not transfused and to the more labor-intensive donation process. The incremental cost effectiveness varied from $235,000 to more than $23 million per quality-adjusted year of life saved. Considering the increased safety of allogeneic transfusions, the increased protection produced from donating autologous blood is limited and may not justify the increased expense, the researchers concluded. "Patients Can Recover from HIV-Positive Doctor" American Medical News (03/13/95) Vol. 38, No. 10, P. 19 A Maryland court has ruled that an HIV-positive surgeon had an obligation to inform patients of his infection. The physician, an oncologic surgeon specializing in breast cancer, had known since 1986 that he had HIV. In October 1988, he performed a partial mastectomy and axillary dissection. The following March, he removed an axillary hematoma from the same patient. He removed a benign lump from another patient in November 1989. The doctor was diagnosed with cytomegalovirus in October 1989, gave up his practice in March 1990, terminated his association with the hospital in June 1990, and died of AIDS in November 1990. The two patients, who learned of their doctor's illness in December 1990, both tested HIV-negative. They then sued the doctor's estate and the hospital for negligence, failure to obtain informed consent, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The two patients may recover for emotional distress to the extent they can demonstrate its existence, the court said, but only for the period from the time they learned the doctor had AIDS to the time they received their negative test results. "AIDS Drugs Count Up" Wholesale Drugs Magazine (02/95) Vol. 47, No. 2, P. 15 According to the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), five new AIDS drugs have received approval over the past year, representing the highest number to date. U.S. drug companies have 107 AIDS treatments in development. The PhRMA also said 26 drugs for AIDS and AIDS-related conditions are now available and 81 companies are involved in AIDS research. "HIV and Alcohol Abuse among Latina Youth" Focus (03/95) Vol. 10, No. 4, P. 8 In the United States, Latinas and Chicanas comprise more than 20 percent of the HIV-infected female population. They are also eight times more likely to contract HIV than non-Hispanic white women. Two small studies--one of university students, the other of high school students--determined that family and cultural values form these women's sense of self-efficacy in such a way as to reinforce high-risk behaviors. In both cases, the researchers used focus groups and individualized surveys to define HIV-related knowledge, alcohol and drug use, and level of acculturation. While most of the subjects shared a common view that Latina youth are not supposed to have intercourse until marriage, not drink, and not discuss sexual matters openly, at least 80 percent reported some incidence of sexual intercourse. Despite high levels of HIV-related knowledge, the participants engaged in consistently high-risk sexual behavior. The author of the studies suggests that Latino parents need to have a more active role in the sexual education of their children; families need to teach and reinforce more responsible alcohol use behaviors; and sexual partners need to share the responsibilities of negotiating safe sex and reducing drinking.