Date: Tue, 30 Apr 1996 12:51:05 -0400 From: "Flynn Mclean" Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary 04/30/96 AIDS Daily Summary April 30, 1996 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 National AIDS Clearinghouse, or any other organization. Reproduction of this text is encouraged; however, copies may not be sold, and the CDC National AIDS Clearinghouse should be cited as the source of this information. Copyright 1996, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD ************************************************************ "NeXstar Drug Is Cleared" "David Petersen, 54, Pioneer of Financial Plans for the Ill" "The Daily Dose" "AIDS Researcher Is Guilty of Scientific Misconduct" "HIV-1 Dementia: An Individual Development" "JC Virus Linked With AIDS Complications" "AIDS Drug Dosing Schedule Can Reduce Side Effects" "Relative Resistance to HIV-1 Infection of CD4 Lymphocytes From Persons Who Remain Uninfected Despite Multiple High-Risk Sexual Exposures" "Thalidomide. It's Back" ************************************************************ "NeXstar Drug Is Cleared" Wall Street Journal (04/30/96) P. A6 NeXstar Pharmaceutical's anticancer drug DaunoXome, for the treatment of advanced HIV-related Kaposi's sarcoma, has been approved in Canada and Austria. "David Petersen, 54, Pioneer of Financial Plans for the Ill" New York Times (04/30/96) P. B10; Van Gelder, Lawrence David D. Petersen, a leader in advising AIDS patients on selling their life insurance policies for cash, died from complications of the disease on Monday. Petersen played a key role in improving the terms of the fees paid by companies that buy life insurance and was known for his efforts to provide financial hope for the terminally ill. He also promoted the formation of a viatical settlement industry association and facilitated meetings between the industry and insurance regulators. Besides proposing viatical sales, Petersen worked to improve health insurance coverage and Medicare benefits for the seriously and chronically ill and was involved in various volunteer organizations. "The Daily Dose" Washington Post Magazine (04/28/96) P. 13; Goldstein, Amy Emerson Dorsey works for the Washington, D.C. Tuberculosis Bureau, taking tuberculosis (TB) pills to city residents who have proved themselves unwilling or unable to take responsibility for their own treatment. He travels throughout the city, enforcing directly observed therapy. Consistent treatment is necessary in order to cure TB, to prevent drug-resistant strains from developing, and to protect the public from the disease. Dorsey's clients include a drug addict, an AIDS patient, and a woman with cancer. "AIDS Researcher Is Guilty of Scientific Misconduct" Reuters (04/29/96) A nurse at the Denver Community Program for Clinical Research on AIDS at the department of public health has been found guilty of altering research data to allow ineligible patients to qualify for AIDS-related clinical trials. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, which based its conclusions on the nurse's statements and an audit by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Joan Gans admitted to committing scientific misconduct. Gans has agreed not to participate in any federally funded research for a two-year period, during which time her work will be supervised. "HIV-1 Dementia: An Individual Development" Reuters (04/29/96) HIV-1-related dementia seems to be an isolated development, rather than the clinical culmination of mental impairment that can occur as HIV infection progresses, Scottish researchers report in the latest issue of AIDS. Guy M. Goodwin and colleagues at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital evaluated the development of dementia in 404 HIV-positive injection drug users. After 10 years, 26 developed HIV-1-related dementia, which was found to be related to a more advanced stage of systemic disease, declines in CD4 cell counts, and reduced survival compared to non-demented controls. "JC Virus Linked With AIDS Complications" Reuters (04/29/96) JC virus DNA was found in the peripheral blood leukocytes of a high proportion of people with HIV, French researchers report in the journal AIDS. This finding supports previous studies which proposed an association between the JC virus and AIDS and provide "a better understanding of the role of peripheral blood leukocytes in the development of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy," the researchers said. Dr. Marie-Edith Lafon and colleagues at the University of Bordeaux found JC virus DNA in the peripheral blood leukocytes of 28.9 percent of 135 HIV-positive patients and only 16.4 percent of 61 HIV-negative, but immunocompromised, patients. Lafon said she was surprised to find that the clinical status and severity of lymphopenia and a low CD4 cell count did not appear to correlate with detectable JC virus DNA. "AIDS Drug Dosing Schedule Can Reduce Side Effects" International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care (04/25/96) Alternate dosing guidelines for Abbott Laboratories' protease inhibitor Ritonavir are proposed in the April issue of the Journal of the International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care. Abbott officials have acknowledged that gradually increasing the initial dose of the drug over the first 14 days has been found to help reduce the side effects often associated with the drug. The journal also contains a monograph on Ritonavir, information on dosing studies of Ritonavir and Saquinavir, and a comparison of Ritonavir and Indinavir. "Relative Resistance to HIV-1 Infection of CD4 Lymphocytes From Persons Who Remain Uninfected Despite Multiple High-Risk Sexual Exposures" Nature Medicine (04/96) Vol. 2, No. 4, P. 412; Paxton, William A.; Martin, Scott R.; Tse, Doris; et al. Some individuals remain HIV-negative despite numerous sexual exposures to the virus. William A. Paxton, of the Aaron Diamond Research Center and New York University School of Medicine, and colleagues studied 25 such individuals and found that, in laboratory tests, their CD8 lymphocytes had greater anti-HIV-1 activity than did the CD8 cells from nonexposed controls. The exposed group's CD4 cells were also found to be less susceptible to infection with HIV-1 than CD4 cells from the nonexposed group. The resistance, which was restricted by the envelope glycoprotein of HIV-1, was associated with the activity of the C-C chemokines RANTES, MIP-1(Alpha), and MIP-1(Beta). These substances were able to inhibit replication of primary isolates of the virus. According to the authors, this resistance in CD4 cells may contribute to the protection from HIV-1 in repeatedly exposed people. "Thalidomide. It's Back" Business Week (04/22/96) No. 3472, P. 46; Leonhardt, David Thalidomide, well-known for the disfiguring birth defects it caused in 10,000 children born in the early 1960s, is being brought back by drug companies to fight some of the world's worst diseases. Andrulis Pharmaceuticals has reported that tests show the drug cures ulcers in AIDS patients, and Celgene is selling thalidomide, with aggressive warnings, to AIDS patients who did not qualify for clinical trials. Drug firms are making the drug's side effects known, which may limit liability if the drug were to cause a reaction in a patient. The drug may stop production of a protein that can cause rapid weight loss in AIDS and cancer patients. Thalidomide may also inhibit HIV replication and eliminate oral ulcers caused by AIDS. Companies testing the drug may seek Food and Drug Administration approval this year.