Date: Wed, 17 May 1995 09:25:43 +0500 From: ghmcleaf{CONTRACTOR/ASPEN/ghmcleaf}%NAC-GATEWAY.ASPEN@ace.aspensys.com AIDS Daily Summary May 17, 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 ************************************************************ "Man to Plead Guilty to Possession" "Synthetic-Blood Trials Advancing" "Agouron Sees Gain in Cancer, HIV Trials" "Across the USA: Massachusetts" "Charity Chronicles Spread of Sex Tourism" "Scientists Urge Action on Drug Resistant Infection" "Trinity Biotech Reports Significant Improvement in First Quarter Results over Prior Year" "Cell Genesys Files for Secondary Stock Offering" "Herpes-Like Sequences in HIV-Infected and Uninfected Kaposi's Sarcoma Patients" "Potential Use of Home HIV Testing" ************************************************************ "Man to Plead Guilty to Possession" Washington Post (05/17/95) P. B4 Jerome Sidney Mensch, an HIV-infected farmer who is faced with charges of possessing and manufacturing marijuana--which he claims was for his own medical use--will plead guilty to possession, his attorney announced on Tuesday. In exchange, the state of Maryland will drop the manufacturing charge, and will not conduct any drug testing during a probation period. Mensch's lawyer said that his client was taking so many prescription drugs that any tests would produce distorted results. This is the first case in Maryland in which a defense involved the medical use of marijuana. "Synthetic-Blood Trials Advancing" New York Times (05/17/95) P. D2 Northfield Laboratories Inc. reports that its synthetic blood substitute has been successfully used to replace as much as 60 percent of test patients' blood. If final trials are successful, the company says that the product--called Polyheme--could be used in trauma cases and emergency surgery. Polyheme, which is made from hemoglobin removed from red blood cells, lacks viruses and does not need to be matched with a patient's blood type. Also, because the product is synthetic, patients are not likely to contract viruses--such as AIDS or hepatitis--from transfusions. "Agouron Sees Gain in Cancer, HIV Trials" Reuters (05/16/95); Mikkelsen, Randall Agouron Pharmaceuticals Inc. President Peter Johnson reports that two of the company's drugs to fight cancer and HIV infection have shown progress in Phase II clinical trials. The company's AG1343 HIV treatment, a second generation "protease inhibitor," showed effectiveness in fighting HIV reproduction four weeks into the study, Johnson said. There were no significant side effects, and researchers used lower doses than those used for competing drugs in its class. AG337, a TS inhibitor to replace the standard "5FU" chemotherapy drug, reduced some tumors in head and neck cancers by 50 percent. Johnson said that expanded trials could begin later this year. "Across the USA: Massachusetts" USA Today (05/17/95) P. 11A A federally funded trip for Massachusetts students to a gay pride parade in June has been canceled due to parents' objections. However, a two-day retreat for 85 homosexual and heterosexual students will still be held as part of an AIDS prevention program, authorities said. "Charity Chronicles Spread of Sex Tourism" Reuters (05/16/95); Griffiths, Lyndsay Sex tourism is spreading from Thailand and India to Latin America and Asia, said Christian Aid on Tuesday. Although it is not known how many children are bought for sex, the British charity said the child prostitution industry is growing at a significant rate. Sex tourists do not usually use condoms, which exposes children to the risk of AIDS. They also look for younger children in the belief that they will not have sexually transmitted diseases. "It is believed some 200,000 Nepali girls have been sold into sexual slavery in Indian brothels. It is a serious problem in Brazil. Probably 60,000 children work as prostitutes in the Philippine sex industry, and perhaps as many as 200,000 in Thailand," Christian Aid said. The charity urged the British government to pass legislation under which people who commit abuses abroad could be prosecuted in British courts. "Scientists Urge Action on Drug Resistant Infection" Reuters (05/16/95); Kenen, Joanne Scientists said on Tuesday that common diseases, such as ear infections and pneumonia, are becoming increasingly dangerous as their bacteria become more resistant to drugs. The American Society of Microbiologists called for a national program of surveillance, research, and education before any progress made by antibiotics is canceled out by drug-resistant organisms. Antibiotics, the scientists said, lulled people into believing that many fatal diseases had been conquered. The complacency, however, has been shaken by new diseases such as AIDS and the Ebola virus, as well as growing resistance seen in pneumonia, tuberculosis, and some sexually transmitted diseases. In addition to the surveillance, the scientists also recommended increased research into vaccines and new drugs. "Trinity Biotech Reports Significant Improvement in First Quarter Results over Prior Year" PR Newswire (05/16/95) For the first quarter of 1995, Trinity Biotech plc reported total product revenues of $2,528,000, up from $1,979,000 for the first quarter 1994. The company's chief financial officer said that revenues were up in all the product lines, including a substantial increase in HIV test sales. In the second quarter, the company's overall margin is expected to increase--partially because of a higher proportion of sales of the company's high margin HIV tests, he said. "Cell Genesys Files for Secondary Stock Offering" PR Newswire (05/16/95) Cell Genesys Inc. has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission to register almost 1.5 million shares of common stock. The shares are being sold by early venture capital investors, and the company will not receive any proceeds from this transaction. Cell Genesys is using gene therapy to develop new approaches to the treatment of viral infection, cancer, and other diseases. The company's primary program, using anti-HIV T-cell gene therapy for AIDS, is currently in human clinical testing. "Herpes-Like Sequences in HIV-Infected and Uninfected Kaposi's Sarcoma Patients" Science (04/28/95) Vol. 268, No. 5210, P. 582; Ambroziak, John A.; Blackbourn, David J.; Herndier, Brian G. et al. Ambroziak et al. report that their studies confirm those of Chang et al., who detected the presence of herpesvirus-like DNA sequences in 90 percent of Kaposi's sarcomas (KS) and 15 percent of non-KS tissues in HIV-infected patients. Ambroziak's studies indicate that the sequences can be found in all 13 KS biopsies studied, including the one from an HIV-negative patient. One of the reported sequences, designated the KS330Bam fragment, was detected in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of 10 KS patients but not in the PBMC of 20 non-KS patients studied. The presence of the KS330Bam sequence in KS tissue of both HIV-negative and HIV-positive individuals provides further evidence of the specific association of a herpesvirus-like sequence with KS. The sequence's absence in the KS-derived cell lines could indicate the lack of cultivation of the KS cell or an indirect effect of a herpeslike-virus on endothelial cell proliferation, the authors conclude. "Potential Use of Home HIV Testing" New England Journal of Medicine (05/11/95) Vol. 332, No. 19, P. 1308; Phillips, Kathryn A.; Flatt, Sylvia J.; Morrison, Kathleen R. et al. Phillips et al. of the University of California at San Francisco examined how the availability of home-access HIV tests might change the numbers of people tested for infection and where they went to be tested. Using data from the 1992 National Health Interview Survey, the researchers found that 29 percent of about 21,000 respondents said they would probably use the home tests. Seventy-five percent of this group said they had never been tested. A total of 42 percent of those at risk for infection said they would likely use the test. Ten percent of all respondents and 17 percent of those at risk said they would choose home testing over other options. People with less education and lower incomes were more likely than other groups to say they would use the home-access tests, which is notable because preventive services and other home tests are more likely to be used by people with higher incomes and levels of education. Also, black and Hispanic respondents were more likely than other groups to say they would use home HIV tests. This is important because the increase in HIV infection among members of minority groups is of great concern. It is interesting that people who may have the greatest need for testing--but the least access to it--may be more likely than other groups to use home tests, the authors note.