Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 09:46:41 -0400 From: "Vaux, Lenore" Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary, 09/26/96 AIDS Daily Summary Thursday, September 26, 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 ****************************************************** "Persistent Doctor Alters AIDS Therapy" "Load to Get Heavier for Moveable Feast" "HIV Home Set Afire" "Malvern Firm Starts Testing Humans for a Herpes Vaccine" "Schering Buyback Plan Approved by Board; Drug Rights Acquired" "Italian Dies of Drugs Overdose in AIDS Unit" "Nearly 9,000 Argentineans Infected With AIDS" "Science & Health Bulletin: Zimbabwe-AIDS Babies" "Funding Renewed for Rural AIDS Center" "Condom Marketer Targets the World" ****************************************************** "Persistent Doctor Alters AIDS Therapy" Wall Street Journal (09/26/96) P. B1; Tanouye, Elyse John W. Mellors, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Pittsburgh, is leading studies to prove that the amount of HIV in the blood directly impacts an AIDS patient's health. The viral load test, which allows doctors to measure the amount of virus in the blood, is central to new combination therapies that aim to lower a patient's viral load. Mellors launched a study in 1983 to study viral load and its relationship with disease progression. It now includes about 2,000 patients, and is still continuing. Mellors found that newly-infected people with high levels of virus died within five years, those with intermediate levels lived longer, and those with low levels lived at least 10 years. His results helped explain the varying survival of AIDS patients that doctors had seen for years. Doctors now have a tool to determine how aggressively to treat HIV-infected patients, and to monitor how well a drug regimen is working. "Load to Get Heavier for Moveable Feast" Baltimore Sun (09/26/96) P. 1B; Imhoff, Ernest F. Moveable Feast, a service organization in Baltimore that prepares and delivers meals to homebound people with AIDS, expects to see its number of clients grow by 100 to 150 next year. Last year it served 137,000 free meals to 550 people, and this year it has 700 clients. James H. Williams, executive director of Moveable Feast, said the agency has been able to serve everyone who has been referred to it, but that the demands are becoming more difficult to meet. Most of the 70 volunteers and 10 staff members for the organization are gay white males, while 80 percent of the clients are African-American, and 40 percent are women. Williams pointed out the need to seek a broader support base and to help the African- American community. "HIV Home Set Afire" Houston Chronicle (09/25/96) P. 15A A home for people with HIV in rural Paicol, Columbia was set on fire by arsonists Monday night as a father and son slept inside. They were unhurt. The house is operated by a Roman Catholic group that provides shelter to poor people with HIV in Colombia. The community had threatened to force the residents out for months, fearing that people with HIV could contaminate the water supply and crops by bathing in a stream that flows into the town. "Malvern Firm Starts Testing Humans for a Herpes Vaccine" Philadelphia Inquirer (09/26/96) P. D1; Shaw, Donna Apollon Inc., the biotechnology company that became the first earlier this year to test a DNA-based AIDS vaccine in healthy people, announced on Wednesday that it has initiated clinical trials for a herpes vaccine being developed in collaboration with Wyeth-Ayerst, a subsidiary of American Home Products. According to Apollon, the experimental vaccine--developed with an Apollon drug-delivery technology called "facilitated DNA injection"--contains genetic material that helps produce a viral protein, known as gD2, in the cells of those who receive the product. Researchers hope the protein will stimulate an immune response to the herpes simplex virus, which would protect a healthy person against infection with the virus, reduce or eliminate symptoms in a person already infected, or possibly reduce the chance that an infected person will transmit the disease. Separate testing on people with genital herpes is scheduled to begin before the end of this year. Apollon is also testing its drug-delivery technology in potential vaccines and therapies for HIV and T cell lymphoma. "Schering Buyback Plan Approved by Board; Drug Rights Acquired" Wall Street Journal (09/26/96) P. C16 Drug company Schering-Plough will buyback as much as $500 million of its common stock. The repurchase program could comprise just over 2 percent of the company's common stock, and the shares will be used for corporate intentions such as employee benefit plans, Schering said. Schering-Plough also announced the purchase of the European marketing rights to a cancer drug, Caelyx, from Sequus Pharmaceuticals, Menlo Park, Calif., for an upfront fee of $5.3 million and an additional $27 million more if specific clinical and sales "milestones" are achieved. The drug is authorized in European Union member nations for the treatment of Kaposi's sarcoma, a cancer commonly seen in AIDS cases, and it is sold under the name Doxil in the United States. Sequus will maintain U.S. marketing rights to the drug. "Italian Dies of Drugs Overdose in AIDS Unit" Reuters (09/25/96) One Italian patient died and two others required emergency medical treatment on Wednesday after overdosing on heroin in the AIDS unit of a hospital in Naples. Another patient in the unit had set fire to bedding in a protest on Tuesday to draw attention to what he alleged was open access to patients for drug pushers. The three patients had injected themselves with heroin in a bathroom, but police did not determine if it was brought to the hospital by a visitor or if one of the patients had left the unit to buy the drug. "Nearly 9,000 Argentineans Infected With AIDS" Xinhua News Agency (09/25/96) The number of registered AIDS patients in Argentina has reached 8,678, and an estimated 11,500 others are infected with HIV, the National Program to Combat AIDS reported. The province of Buenos Aires has the most AIDS cases, with 3,340. Most young patients contracted the virus through intravenous injection, while most older people were infected through homosexual contact. In general, 47 percent of the cases were transmitted sexually, 44 percent through blood, and 6 percent from mother to fetus. "Science & Health Bulletin: Zimbabwe-AIDS Babies" PANA Wire Service (09/25/96) A Zimbabwean physiotherapist reported Tuesday that more information is needed about the growth and development problems of children born to HIV-positive mothers to allow doctors to provide better treatment. Speaking at a meeting of physical therapists, Lorna Maurer of the University of Zimbabwe said that children born to HIV-positive mothers need special medical attention paid to their growth and development. She reported that a study has shown that such children have problems in walking and crawling, and that speech abnormalities are more common in the group. "Funding Renewed for Rural AIDS Center" American Medical News (09/16/96) Vol. 39, No. 35, P. 18 The AIDS rate in rural areas of the United States rose 80 percent between 1991 and 1995, compared to increases of 47 percent in metropolitan areas and 64 percent in small metro areas. According to William Yarber, of Indiana University's Rural Center for the Study and Promotion of HIV/STD Prevention, AIDS is often ignored in rural towns, contributing to the problem. The center will receive $264,000 under a provision of the agricultural appropriations bill, expected to be signed by President Clinton. "Condom Marketer Targets the World" Advertising Age (09/16/96) Vol. 67, No. 38, P. 40; Wentz, Laurel The Internet presence of London International Group (LIG), the world's largest condom marketer, will be handled by AKQA, a London new media agency and Web developer. LIG's marketing efforts focus mostly on establishing a global market for Durex condoms. By the end of the year, AKQA will establish one site for Durex that will have different areas for each country, using promotions targeted to specific nations. A representative from AKQA said the material on the World Wide Web site will be completely new and different from previous Durex marketing materials. Durex's Web site is located at http://www.durex.com.