Date: Fri, 31 Jan 97 09:38:14 EST From: "David Radune" Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary 01/31/97 AIDS Daily Summary January 31, 1997 The CDC National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention makes available the following information as a public service only. Providing this information does not constitute endorsement by the CDC. 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 ****************************************************** "U.S. Plans Meeting to Study Issue of Medical Marijuana" "Governors Oppose Clinton Proposal for Medicaid Cap" "Market Place: Shares in Maker of a Flu Drug Soar, But Competitor Has Edge" "A Medical Opinion on Marijuana" "Small Stock Focus: Flamel" "Glaxo's Chairman Planning to Retire; Skyes, Lance Are in Line for Key Posts" "Covert Health Reform Through Schools?" "AIDS Spreads in South China's Guangdong Province" "Not So Fast" "Susceptibility to HIV Infection and Progression of AIDS in Relation to Variant Alleles of Mannose-Binding Lectin" ****************************************************** "U.S. Plans Meeting to Study Issue of Medical Marijuana" New York Times (01/31/97) P. A14; Wren, Christopher S. Experts on the potential medicinal benefits and risks of marijuana will convene at the National Institutes of Health in February to help resolve "the public health dilemma" created by new state medical marijuana laws, NIH director Harold Varmus announced Thursday. The National Institute on Drug Abuse is organizing the meeting, scheduled for Feb. 19 and 20. Participants will consider how to hold clinical research on the medical benefits and risks of marijuana. The Clinton administration, after threatening to prosecute doctors who prescribe the drug, has come under attack by physicians who say marijuana can benefit patients with AIDS, cancer, and other serious illnesses. "Governors Oppose Clinton Proposal for Medicaid Cap" New York Times (01/31/97) P. A1; Pear, Robert The National Governors' Association has said that it will oppose President Clinton's plan to limit federal spending on Medicaid, claiming that it would shift the burden of providing care to poor people to the states. The New York Medicaid program, one of the country's most costly, would be hurt seriously by a federal cap. It enrolls more AIDS patients, who have a higher cost of care than other recipients, than does any other state. The cost of AIDS care, moreover, is likely to increase with the use of costly new drugs. A number of consumer and patient advocate groups are also opposing the Clinton proposal, including the AIDS Action Council, the Alzheimer's Association, and Catholic Charities USA. "Market Place: Shares in Maker of a Flu Drug Soar, But Competitor Has Edge" New York Times (01/31/97) P. D6; Fisher, Lawrence M. Shares of Gilead Science rose dramatically earlier this week, after the biotechnology firm announced that it would initiate clinical testing of a flu drug. However, Biota Holdings, a little-known Australian company, is already conducting clinical trials of a potential influenza treatment and could market its medication first. Gilead is popular among analysts because it is one of the few biotechnology companies with an approved drug for CMV retinitis, a common disease among AIDS patients that can cause blindness. The company is also conducting clinical trials of other drugs for AIDS, herpes, and genital warts. "A Medical Opinion on Marijuana" New York Times (01/31/97) P. A30 The New England Journal of Medicine's approval of the medical use of marijuana provides a compassionate voice on the national debate, according to a New York Times editorial. Furthermore, the editors note, the journal's endorsement could make the government's opposition to medical marijuana more difficult. In its commentary on the issue, the New England Journal of Medicine notes that the drug's risks, which are not as high as the risks from some legal drugs, are outweighed by its benefit for AIDS and cancer patients who are experiencing pain or nausea. "Small Stock Focus: Flamel" Wall Street Journal (01/31/97) P. C7; Sears, Steven M. Shares of the drug-delivery company Flamel were up 1.375, or 22 percent, to 7.625 on the Nasdaq market Thursday, on news that the firm had initiated a Phase III clinical trial of its Viropump genital herpes drug. "Glaxo's Chairman Planning to Retire; Skyes, Lance Are in Line for Key Posts" Wall Street Journal (01/31/97) P. B2B; Moore, Stephen D. Sir Colin Corness, chairman of Glaxo Wellcome, will retire in May and be succeeded by Sir Richard Skyes, now serving as the drug company's chief executive. Skyes does not plan to step down from his full-time executive position in the near future and will continue to hold primary management responsibility for both global strategy, and research and development. Sean Lance, a native of South Africa, was promoted to the position of chief operating officer. Lance has advocated flexible marketing strategies, which will likely mean developing and pricing drugs differently for different countries, especially drugs produced by Glaxo for hepatitis B, malaria, and AIDS, all of which are endemic in the developing world. "Covert Health Reform Through Schools?" Washington Times (01/30/97) P. A13; Criner, Lawrence The Clinton administration is secretly aiming to create a new American health care system through public education reform, contends Lawrence Criner, associate senior editor of the World & I magazine, in a Washington Times commentary. As proof of his claims, Criner points to the prevalence of sex education in public schools, saying these programs infringe upon parental responsibility. He also notes that proposed school programs include personality screening, mental health testing, a database registry of students, sexual diversity instruction, and behavior-modifying drug therapy. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced in 1995 that it had collaborated with some 25 national education organizations to develop comprehensive health education programs throughout the country. However, Criner says that the CDC has not made these materials easily available to the public. He contends that the government's secret agenda, proposed as education reform, is an attempt to allow interest groups to gain influence in the classroom. "AIDS Spreads in South China's Guangdong Province" Reuters (01/31/97) A 25 percent increase in HIV infections was reported in China's Guangdong province in 1996, according to the Xinhua News Agency. Last year, 54 HIV infections were reported in the province, including six that had progressed to AIDS. Sexually transmitted diseases were also reportedly on the rise. "Not So Fast" Village Voice (01/28/97) Vol. 42, No. 4, P. 38; Schoofs, Mark New research suggests that a so-called "heterosexual strain" of HIV, proposed by Harvard AIDS scientist Max Essex, may not hold up to scientific scrutiny. Essex had reported that HIV subtype E seemed to be better suited to infecting the cells lining the vagina and foreskin than subtype B, which was spread rapidly among injection drug users in Thailand but had not caused a heterosexual epidemic. However, researchers from both Rockefeller University and the U.S. Army have not been able to duplicate Essex's findings. Essex maintains that the researchers used different research methods that could have caused the contradictory results. In other research, studies have shown that the amount of HIV in semen can be dramatically reduced when combination drug therapy effectively suppresses HIV in the blood. However, a man with no detectable virus in his semen could still infect someone. Researchers warn, therefore, that people should not stop practicing safer sex just because they have a diminished viral load. "Susceptibility to HIV Infection and Progression of AIDS in Relation to Variant Alleles of Mannose-Binding Lectin" Lancet (01/25/97) Vol. 349, No. 9047, P. 236; Garred, Peter; Madsen, Hans O.; Balslev, Ulla; et al. Low serum concentrations of mannose-binding lectin (MBL) are attributed to three variant alleles in the MBL gene and are associated with immunodeficiency. Dr. Peter Garred, of the Tissue Typing Laboratory at Denmark's National University Hospital, and colleagues evaluated whether this genetic variation was associated with susceptibility to HIV infection and AIDS progression. They determined the prevalence of MBL polymorphisms in 96 HIV-positive homosexual men and compared the frequency of the variant MBL alleles in this group with that in healthy controls and high-risk HIV-negative controls. The authors report that 8 percent of the HIV-infected men were homozygous for the variant alleles, while only 0.8 percent of the healthy controls and none of the high-risk homosexual controls carried the variant alleles. No significant association was found between MBL genotype and AIDS progression, but the survival time after AIDS diagnosis was significantly shorter in the 61 men who carried the variant alleles than in those with the normal allele. The researchers concluded that individuals homozygous for the variant MBL alleles are especially vulnerable to HIV infection and that the variant alleles are associated with significantly shorter survival after AIDS diagnosis.