Date: Thu, 8 Feb 1996 12:16:00 +0500 From: gharaghs{CONTRACTOR/ASPEN/gharaghs}%NAC-GATEWAY.ASPEN@ace.aspensys.com Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary 2/8/96 AIDS Daily Summary February 8, 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 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 Patient's Baboon Bone Marrow Transplant Appears to Fail" "Migrant Workers Take AIDS Risk Home to Niger" "Simple HIV Test on Trial" "Funding for AIDS Drugs to Drop Under Ridge Plan" "Civil Rights Group Takes on Condom Ban" "Obituary: Brian Weil, 41, Photographer Who Founded Needle Exchange" "Rampant AIDS Virus Buffets Uganda" "New Bay State AIDS Cases Dipped in 1995" "Generic Zidovudine Unlikely to be Available in USA by Year 2005" "Viral Load: New Confirmation from Major Delavirdine Studies" ************************************************************ "AIDS Patient's Baboon Bone Marrow Transplant Appears to Fail" Washington Post (02/08/96) P. A11 Doctors announced Wednesday that the baboon marrow transplanted into AIDS patient Jeff Getty has apparently failed to take hold. Getty is in good condition, though, possibly because of the chemotherapy he is receiving. The baboon marrow, which was meant to bolster Getty's immune system, was used because baboons do not get AIDS. The transplant was performed two months ago, and doctors say there is no sign of the baboon cells. Dr. Steven Deeks, who performed the transplant at San Francisco General Hospital, says Getty has improved despite the failed transplant, and that the experiment will yield new areas of study. Deeks said that he plans to repeat the transplant with what he learned from Getty's experience, and that the procedure was proven safe. Related Stories: Wall Street Journal (02/08/96) P. A1; Washington Times (02/08/96) P. A5 "Migrant Workers Take AIDS Risk Home to Niger" New York Times (02/08/96) P. A3; French, Howard W. Nigerian men who venture to West Africa's coast to find work in the summer have been spreading HIV to their wives and girlfriends when they return home. Although that region was not as heavily impacted by AIDS as most of Africa, the disease is becoming more common. Health experts cannot say how fast AIDS is spreading in Niger and the rest of the Sahel region. They do, however, know that other sexually transmitted diseases have increased, a sign that AIDS will be following. AIDS educators are currently trying to help the migrant workers, offering classes at bus stops along their way about how HIV is spread and how to use a condom. "Simple HIV Test on Trial" Financial Times (02/08/96) P. 8 A simple HIV test that needs no refrigeration, electricity, distilled water, or technical expertise has been developed by an Israeli company. The World Health Organization is studying the test, which is being studied in Uganda, Kenya, and Argentina. The test requires a small amount of blood, which, unlike other tests, does not need to be taken from a vein and separated. Treated paper provides the result. The company, called Zer, says the test will be especially useful for under-resourced villages in Africa and Asia. "Funding for AIDS Drugs to Drop Under Ridge Plan" Philadelphia Inquirer (02/08/96) P. B3; Collins, Huntly The $6.6 million Special Pharmaceutical Benefits Program, a Pennsylvania state fund that gives uninsured AIDS patients and mental health clients access to free medicine, would be cut under the governor's proposed budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1. The potential $1.9 million reduction could mean that protease inhibitors--a new class of drugs that are both effective and costly--would have to be rationed among needy patients. According to Feather O. Houstoun, Secretary of the State Welfare Department, the cut was proposed prior to the recent announcement by scientists about the efficacy of the new drugs. "If it turns out we'll be pinched [to pay for the new drugs], we will take another look at it," Houston said. "Civil Rights Group Takes on Condom Ban" Washington Times (02/08/96) P. A12 The New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), representing the All Saints Lutheran Parish, challenged on Wednesday the city's ban on condom demonstrations and its restrictions on condom distribution. The NYCLU presented arguments in court, claiming that the parish had the right to send volunteers into the city's parks without a permit to teach the public how HIV is spread and how to prevent its transmission. "Obituary: Brian Weil, 41, Photographer Who Founded Needle Exchange" New York Times (02/08/96) P. B13; Smith, Roberta Brian Weil, a photographer who helped found New York City's first needle exchange program, died over the weekend at the age of 41. His photographic subjects included people with AIDS, transsexuals, and workers in sex clubs. He organized an exhibition of his AIDS photographs in 1991 at the International Center of Photography. It traveled to over 12 venues and was the subject of a book. He became an AIDS volunteer and organizer in 1985 and was part of a group that started a needle exchange in Harlem and the South Bronx. Two years ago he founded City Wide Needle Exchange, a program for drug users who are HIV-positive. "Rampant AIDS Virus Buffets Uganda" Toronto Globe and Mail (02/07/96) P. A1; Zarembo, Alan HIV was spread unknowingly by the wealthiest Ugandans in the 1980s, and is now killing educated city workers. Up to 20 percent of the adults in Kampala, the capital, are infected. Infection with the virus is so widespread that many employers now require job applicants to take an HIV test. While the death rate climbs, the rate of infection has slowed, especially among teenagers. Employers are dealing with the epidemic by educating workers, offering free condoms, and hiring older workers. AIDS activists are trying to ban the mandatory HIV tests often used by employers to weed out job applicants. The government opposes testing, except for army recruits and people being hired for foreign training. However, as an increasing number of state-owned firms are privatized, there is a fear that the new employers will be less accommodating to HIV-infected workers. "New Bay State AIDS Cases Dipped in 1995" Boston Globe (02/06/96) P. 24 For the second year in a row, the number of new AIDS cases reported in Massachusetts dropped in 1995. The number of new cases decreased by approximately 8 percent from 1994, the state Department of Public Health reported. A department spokesman said the drop is a sign that public education efforts about the spread of HIV are working. He added that people with the virus are receiving better health care, which has slowed the progression of AIDS. At the start of 1996, 11,048 AIDS cases had been reported in Massachusetts--3,954 of whom are still living. "Generic Zidovudine Unlikely to be Available in USA by Year 2005" Lancet (01/27/96) Vol.347, No.8996, P. 255; Barnett, Alicia Ault The Supreme Court prevented two generic drug manufacturers from offering the anti-HIV drug zidovudine, or AZT, in the United States when it decided on Jan. 16 not to hear arguments that Glaxo Wellcome's patent on Retrovir, their form of the drug, was invalid. The two companies, Barr Laboratories of New York and Novopharm of Toronto, claim that scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) discovered that the drug could be used in humans and that Glaxo Wellcome was not the sole inventor. When Barr and Novopharm filed for Food and Drug Administration approval for the generic drug, Wellcome sued the companies for potentially violating their patent. Wellcome won a U.S. District Court decision, and the U.S. Court of Appeals upheld the decision. When the case reached the Supreme Court, the Clinton Administration issued a decision that Wellcome had the idea to use the drug in humans, and even though NIH had done the work to prove the drug's use in humans, Wellcome had a right to the patent. Novopharm has sold the generic drug in Canada for two years at about half of the $300 per year wholesale price Wellcome charges in the United States. The Wellcome patent expires in 2005, at which point Barr and Novopharm will be able to sell their generic versions of the drug. "Viral Load: New Confirmation from Major Delavirdine Studies" AIDS Treatment News (01/19/96) No.239, P. 2; James, John S. The value of viral load in predicting clinical outcome in AIDS patients has been proven with two clinical trials of delavirdine involving about 1,900 patients. Clinical outcome was predicted with high significance, based on both baseline, viral load, and change in viral load in response to therapy. When the viral load decreased by 70 percent or more with treatment and the decrease was sustained, the risk of clinical disease progression was 55 percent lower. Overall, a patient's viral load proved more effective than CD4 count in predicting clinical outcome. Based on the new data, Pharmacia & Upjohn will be able to apply for accelerated approval this year, while the trial continues to collect clinical outcome information. The company will offer an expanded-access program for the drug, expected to begin in March 1996.