The Arsenal Files 8/The Arsenal Files Collection #8 (Arsenal Computer) (1996).ISO/health/ad961028.txt

Text File | 1996-11-11 | 10KB | 187 lines

                     AIDS Daily Summary
                   Monday, October 28, 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


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"Loss Grows to $14.5 Million Amid Outlays for Viracept"
"It Turns Out Novatek Bought a New Owner"
"'When AIDS Hits Home'"
"Boxing: Magic Criticizes Morrison's Return"
"China Bans Item Tainted With HIV"
"Voice in Wilderness Challenges AIDS Apathy"
"On the Record: Richard Klausner"
"S. African AIDS Infection Rate Spiraling"
"The Relation of Virologic and Immunologic Markers to Clinical
Outcomes After Nucleoside Therapy in HIV-Infected Adults With 200
to 500 CD4 Cells per Cubic Millimeter"
"AIDS in a Medical Intensive Care Unit"
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"Loss Grows to $14.5 Million Amid Outlays for Viracept"
Wall Street Journal (10/28/96) P. B3
     Agouron Pharmaceuticals reported a net loss of $14.5 million for
the third-quarter, compared to a net loss of $2.5 million for the
same period last year.  Higher costs related to the development
and commercialization of Agouron's anti-HIV drug Viracept were
cited as reasons for the increase.  Agouron is developing
Viracept in collaboration with Hoffmann-La Roche.  An Agouron
spokesman said this quarter's earnings will be affected by the
added investment as well, noting that the company is hoping for
the drug's approval before June 1997.

"It Turns Out Novatek Bought a New Owner"
Washington Post--Washington Business (10/28/96) P. 31; Knight,
Jerry
     A press release from Novatek International incorrectly reported
last week that the medical supply company would acquire Medical
Products, when in fact Medical Products has acquired Novatek.
`Management attributes this error to the complexity of the
transaction, as well as to the complexity of accounting rules
governing such mergers,' Novatek said.  Novatek told its shareholders
that it bought the company for $72 million in cash, stock, and debt,
but the company's report to the SEC showed the price tag as $3 million
in cash, $36 million in IOUs, and millions of shares of Novatek
stock--thus making Medical Products the buyer, not Novatek.  The press
release was the firm's first response to probes by both the Securities
and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Nasdaq Stock Market, which has
halted trading of Novatek stock.  The SEC is investigating the Medical
Products deal as well as the accuracy of Novatek's financial
statements. Barron's recently reported that Novatek's William Trainor
served time in a U.S. prison for violating his parole after pleading
guilty to charges of fraud related to a New England home-building
business.  Trainor's name is not shown on Novatek filings with the SEC
or on communications with shareholders.  According to SEC reports, the
company was also experiencing financial problems, and it was at risk
for losing its Nasdaq listing, in part because of "outstanding checks
in excess of bank balances."

"'When AIDS Hits Home'"
Washington Post (10/28/96) P. A20; Hager, Christine J.
     In a letter to the editor of the Washington Post, Christine J.
Hagar of Rockville, Md. takes issue with some implications made
in a recent Post article about the current state of the AIDS
epidemic.  She objects to the comparison of federal spending on
heart disease and spending on AIDS, arguing that heart disease
has been funded for a much longer time than AIDS and that AIDS
affects a younger population.  Hagar notes that AIDS research has
increased knowledge about the immune system and opportunistic
infections, and it has led to new treatments for immune disorders
other than AIDS.

"Boxing: Magic Criticizes Morrison's Return"
Chicago Tribune (10/26/96) P. 3-2
     Magic Johnson said he would not support the return of heavyweight
Tommy Morrison, who is HIV-positive, to boxing, because of the
risk involved.  "I feel that he shouldn't be doing it because
it's a blood sport," Johnson said.  "If something were to happen,
it would set the fight [against HIV and AIDS] back five to ten
years."  Morrison has announced that he will appear on the
undercard of the George Foreman-Crawford Grimsley fight on Nov. 3
in Tokyo.

"China Bans Item Tainted With HIV"
Houston Chronicle (10/25/96) P. 31A
     A common blood product has been banned in China because it was
found to be contaminated with HIV.  On Thursday, the Chinese
Foreign Ministry officially confirmed earlier reports that vials
of Wolongsong brand blood albumin was tainted.  The news comes as
health officials are raising awareness of the threat of AIDS in
China as well as the faulty blood system that attracts high-risk
donors by offering payment for blood donations.  The Health
Ministry reported that 4,305 people were infected with HIV as of
Sept. 1, up from 3,341 in 1995.  Experts estimate that as many as
100,000 Chinese could be infected, however.

"Voice in Wilderness Challenges AIDS Apathy"
St. Louis Post-Dispatch (10/25/96) P. 5D; Freeman, Gregory
     Erise Williams Jr., executive director of the St. Louis
organization Blacks Assisting Blacks Against AIDS, says his
attempts to raise AIDS awareness in the African-American
community have been largely ignored.  A conference of black
leaders from across the country was held last week by the Harvard
AIDS Institute and others to deal with this issue.  Henry Louis
Gates Jr., of the W.E.B. DuBois Institute, another conference
sponsor, said that many black leaders are "in a state of denial"
about the AIDS epidemic.  In the St. Louis area, blacks account
for 60 percent of all HIV cases and 83 percent of the HIV cases
in teen-agers.  Of the infants born with HIV, 77 percent are
African-American.  State-wide, 33 percent of all HIV cases are in
blacks, and most of the cases are attributed to unsafe sex.
Williams says he has urged community leaders to take action
against AIDS but that most have not cooperated.

"On the Record: Richard Klausner"
Chicago Tribune (10/27/96) P. 2-3; Schreuder, Cindy
     In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, Richard Klausner,
director of the National Cancer Institute, said that cancer
research and AIDS research have enhanced each other because
advances against AIDS have been based on studies of the viral
causes of cancer.  He also said that, while he does not think
cancer will ever be completely eradicated, he hopes to ultimately
be able to prevent or cure most instances of the disease.

"S. African AIDS Infection Rate Spiraling"
Reuters (10/25/96); Mnyandu, Ellis
     With one of the world's fastest-growing HIV rates, South Africa
could have 5 million cases of infection by the year 2000.  Clive
Evian, director of a Johannesburg-based AIDS unit, said on Friday
that the HIV infection rate for the country's sexually active
population, currently between 6 percent and 12 percent, was
doubling every two to three years.  He criticized, moreover, the
lack of comprehensive AIDS education programs and the $3 million
musical sponsored by the Health Department earlier this year to
raise AIDS awareness.

"The Relation of Virologic and Immunologic Markers to Clinical
Outcomes After Nucleoside Therapy in HIV-Infected Adults With 200
to 500 CD4 Cells per Cubic Millimeter"
New England Journal of Medicine (10/10/96) Vol. 335, No. 15, P.
1091; Katzenstein, David A.; Hammer, Scott M.; Hughes, Michael
Katzenstein, David A.
     Assessing the level of HIV RNA in the plasma is commonly used to
monitor the activity of antiviral drugs.  David Katzenstein, of
the Stanford University Medical Center, and colleagues, examined
changes in this measurement, along with CD4 cell counts, and
viral phenotype, to determine the relation of these factors to
clinical outcomes in HIV-infected patients participating in the
AIDS Clinical Trials Group Study 175.  The 391 patients included
in the study were assigned to either monotherapy or combination
therapy with the early antiretroviral drugs zidovudine,
didanosine, and zalcitabine.  It was found that higher HIV RNA
concentrations, less suppression of HIV RNA by treatment, and the
presence of the syncytium-inducing phenotype of HIV were
significantly related to a higher risk of disease progression and
death.  The researchers thus concluded that changes in HIV RNA
concentrations are useful predictors of changes in CD4 cell
counts and survival after treatment, and they recommend that this
measurement be used to monitor the use of antiretroviral drugs.

"AIDS in a Medical Intensive Care Unit"
Journal of the American Medical Association (10/16/96) Vol. 276,
No. 15, P. 1240; Lazard, Thierry; Retel, Oliver; Guidet,
Bertrand; et al.
     Because AIDS is a terminal illness, the benefit of admitting an
AIDS patient to a hospital's medical intensive care unit (MICU)
is questionable.  To help doctors decide if an AIDS patient
should be admitted to the MICU, Dr. Thierry Lazard, of the
Hospital Saint-Antoine in Paris, and colleagues, studied the
cases of 120 AIDS patients who were admitted to the hospital's
MICU over a two-year period.  The patients were diagnosed with
either respiratory failure, central nervous dysfunction,
pneumothorax, shock, or other conditions.  Survival rates after
MICU discharge were 86 percent at 1 week, and 39 percent at one
year.  The authors conclude that MICU mortality was related to
immediate severity and the time between AIDS diagnosis and MICU
admission.  Long-term survival after MICU discharge was found to
depend only on the severity of AIDS.  They recommend, therefore,
that doctors admit AIDS patients to the MICU based on the same
criteria used for other patients.