Date: Fri, 15 Mar 1996 11:23:43 +0500 From: ghmcleaf{CONTRACTOR/ASPEN/ghmcleaf}%NAC-GATEWAY.ASPEN@ace.aspensys.com Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary 03/15/96 AIDS Daily Summary March 15, 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 1996, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD ************************************************************ "Undervaccination for hepatitis B among young men who have sex with men: San Francisco/Berkeley, California 1992-1993" "Merck's Newly Approved AIDS Drug Is Priced 30 Percent Below Rival Medicine" "FDA Sanctions Faster Blood Screening Test" "Japanese Suits on H.I.V.-Tainted Blood Settled" "Report Urges Shift in AIDS Research" "Babies Need AIDS Protection, Too" "Across the USA: Rhode Island" "Blood Inquiry Can Keep Memos Secret" "States Debate HIV Testing in Pregnant Women" "FDA: More Patients to Try Controversial Blood Scalding" "Court Expands HIV Liability for Drug Makers" "New Internet Sources for HIV/AIDS Treatment and Clinical Trials Information" ************************************************************ "Undervaccination for hepatitis B among young men who have sex with men: San Francisco/Berkeley, California 1992-1993" Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (03/15/96) Young men who have sex with men (MSM) are at high risk for hepatitis B, a serious disease that is preventable through vaccination. However, very few young MSM are vaccinated against hepatitis B, according to the latest findings from a San Francisco study originally designed to estimate the prevalence of HIV infection and related risk behaviors among young MSM. Previous findings from this survey revealed high prevalence of HIV and hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection among young MSM. Because of the high HBV prevalence, CDC analyzed serologic data of this survey to estimate the proportion of young MSM vaccinated against hepatitis B. Results suggest that only 3% of young MSM sampled in San Francisco/Berkeley in 1992-1993 were adequately vaccinated against hepatitis B, and approximately 20% had acquired hepatitis B virus (HBV). The results also indicate that the majority (86%) of young MSM still at risk for HBV were not vaccinated despite receiving medical services from one or more health-care providers. Vaccination is the most effective means of preventing HBV infection. These findings reveal missed opportunities for preventing hepatitis B through vaccination in health-care settings, and underscore the need for health care providers to intensify efforts to identify and vaccinate MSM and other candidates for hepatitis B vaccination during routine health-care visits. Furthermore, sustained efforts to reduce high-risk behaviors among young MSM are also critical in preventing both HIV and HBV infection. "Merck's Newly Approved AIDS Drug Is Priced 30 Percent Below Rival Medicine" Wall Street Journal (03/15/96) P. B5; Waldholz, Michael The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted Merck & Co. clearance to market Crixivan (indinavir), its new AIDS treatment, on the strength of several studies that indicate that the protease inhibitor is effective in reducing HIV levels in the blood. One study demonstrated that patients administered Crixivan and two existing AIDS drugs--Glaxo Wellcome's AZT and 3TC--had HIV levels reduced by 98 percent after six months of treatment. Therapy which suppresses HIV so strongly appears to render the virus incapable of mutating or developing drug-resistance, leading researchers to hope that the new treatment will help patients to add years to their lives. Merck plans to price its new drug 30 percent lower than Abbott Laboratories' Norvir, a similar medication which received FDA approval 10 days ago. Related Stories: New York Times (03/15) P. A14; Washington Post (03/15) P. F2 "FDA Sanctions Faster Blood Screening Test" Washington Post (03/15/96) P. F2; Day, Kathleen The Food and Drug Administration approved on Thursday a new HIV blood test which is expected to save about 10 additional lives each year at a cost of about $60 million. The FDA's blood product advisory committee had not recommended the new test, on the grounds that it was not a significant improvement over the standard test. The new test, made by Coulter Corp. of Miami, can detect HIV in a newly infected person about a week sooner than current tests. It detects antigens made by the virus, rather than the antibodies produced by the body in response to the virus, as the current test does. The new test has been criticized by some individuals in the blood bank industry, who question the significance of the added cost against the added benefit. The American Association of Blood Banks, which represents the Red Cross, supports it. Related Stories: USA Today (3/15) P. 9D; Philadelphia Inquirer (3/15) P. A20 "Japanese Suits on H.I.V.-Tainted Blood Settled" New York Times (03/15/96) P. A2; Pollack, Andrew Japan's Health and Welfare Minister and five drug companies agreed to a settlement Thursday with hemophiliacs who were infected with HIV through tainted blood products. The seven-year case was especially controversial because it revealed that the government had protected the drug companies from competition at the cost of the public health. The settlement calls for the government to pay 44 percent of the $430,000 to be awarded each plaintiff, and the drug companies to pay 56 percent. The drug companies, including Green Cross Corp., Baxter International Inc., and Bayer AG, also made apologies to the hemophiliacs and their families. About 1,800 people were infected with HIV, and about 400 have died. Related Stories: Wall Street Journal (3/15) P. B5; Washington Post (3/15) P. A24 "Report Urges Shift in AIDS Research" Washington Post (03/15/96) P. A1; Weiss, Rick A review of the National Institutes of Health's $1.4 billion AIDS research program released Thursday says that too much money is being spent on studies that are marginally related to AIDS and that promising research is underfunded. The report, commissioned by the Office of AIDS Research, calls for significant shifts in research priorities, including spending less on new AIDS drugs because the drug industry is already doing much of that work and because new drugs seem less likely to be as effective than vaccines and other prevention efforts. It recommends increased research on immunology and for more spending on research proposed by individual scientists rather than institutionally mandated studies. Related Story: Richmond Times-Dispatch (03/15) P. A2 "Babies Need AIDS Protection, Too" Philadelphia Inquirer (03/15/96) P. A39; Caplan, Art In a Philadelphia Inquirer commentary, Art Caplan of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania says the public's reaction to recent AIDS news has been unbalanced. He says that while Americans are willing to support HIV prevention among boxers and health care workers, they are not paying enough attention to what can be done to prevent babies from being born with HIV. The author points to two recent studies which showed that pregnant women with the virus can reduce the chance that they will transmit it to their child by taking AZT. According to Caplan, Americans are unwilling to take steps that will reduce the number of children born with HIV. "Across the USA: Rhode Island" USA Today (03/15/96) P. 9A A bill being considered by the Rhode Island state legislature would require schools to let parents review AIDS and sex education materials. Opponents of the measure cite academic freedom, while supporters point to parents' rights. "Blood Inquiry Can Keep Memos Secret" Toronto Globe and Mail (03/14/96) P. A4; Picard, Andre A Canadian federal court judge has ruled that the commissioner of the federal inquiry into the tainted blood tragedy does not have to make its internal correspondence public. The Canadian Red Cross Society was trying to get the memos and notes released as part of its lawsuit against the inquiry. The suit is an attempt to keep the inquiry from naming parties in findings of wrongdoing, which could be used for criminal or civil proceedings. The secret information is important to the implicated parties because they are trying to show that the commissioner's lawyers were biased. The material was protected, however, because there is no evidence that it contains new information. "States Debate HIV Testing in Pregnant Women" Reuters (03/14/96) In 1995, seven states--including California, Connecticut, and Illinois--passed laws to require health care providers to make HIV testing available to all pregnant women. Similar laws are being debated in Maryland and New York. Anonymous testing for all neonates has been mandated in New York since 1987, but some say the results should be known. New York Gov. Pataki has recently proposed a bill that would give mothers the choice of whether to learn the HIV testing results. "FDA: More Patients to Try Controversial Blood Scalding" American Medical News (02/26/96) Vol. 39, No. 8, P. 12 The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will allow IDT Inc. to add 60 AIDS patients to its trial of an experimental treatment in which patients' blood is scalded in an attempt to kill HIV. The blood is drained, heated to 114 degrees, and returned to the patient's body. IDT said the expanded trial should provide enough data to seek FDA approval to market the treatment. The FDA warned that the treatment has not been proven to help AIDS patients, however early trials did demonstrate that the treatment did not cause brain damage or other harm. The therapy is based on the idea that the heat will kill some of the virus, giving the patient's immune system a chance to build up a defense. In 1990, the first U.S. attempt at the therapy created a scandal when it was revealed that a patient who was reportedly cured had never been infected. Three years later, the FDA gave the company permission to test the method on six patients, and later allowed a trial of 20 more. None of the patients in the group whose temperatures reached 108 degrees have since suffered any AIDS-related infections, though two patients who did not receive the treatment became ill, as did two whose temperatures did not rise above 104 degrees. "Court Expands HIV Liability for Drug Makers" National Law Journal (02/19/96) Vol. 18, No. 25, P. B3 The Indiana Court of Appeals ruled in January that pharmaceutical companies can be held liable for producing and distributing HIV-infected blood products. The court said that, unlike blood banks, commercial companies are not protected by the state's blood shield statute. The trial will be the first in which pharmaceutical companies will face liability regardless of fault for HIV-contaminated blood. "New Internet Sources for HIV/AIDS Treatment and Clinical Trials Information" Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National AIDS Clearinghouse (03/15/96) Information on treatment for HIV infection and HIV/AIDS clinical trials will now be available through two new World Wide Web sites. The HIV/AIDS Treatment Information Service (ATIS) Web site, http://www.hivatis.org, provides information on federally approved treatments for HIV infection, treatment-related publications, and links to other treatment-related sites. The AIDS Clinical Trials Information Service (ACTIS) Web site, http://www.actis.org, provides information on HIV/AIDS clinical trials, including new trials open to enrollment, trial results, and links to other related sites. ATIS and ACTIS are Public Health Service coordinated projects.