Software Vault: The Diamond Collection/The Diamond Collection (Software Vault)(Digital Impact).ISO/cdr16/ad950328.zip/AD950328.TXT

Text File | 1995-03-28 | 11KB | 204 lines

                     AIDS Daily Summary
                       March 28, 1995

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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"U.S. Begins Probe of District AIDS Clinic"
"Hemophiliacs Would Get More Time to Sue"
"Lawyer Sees Tie to AIDS in Vaccine"
"Many Drug Companies Scale Back Research in New Cost Climate"
"Condom Companies in U.S. Eye Sales Growth Abroad"
"Across the USA: Indiana"
"The Cost Effectiveness of Preoperative Autologous Blood
Donations"
"Patients Can Recover from HIV-Positive Doctor"
"AIDS Drugs Count Up"
"HIV and Alcohol Abuse among Latina Youth"
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"U.S. Begins Probe of District AIDS Clinic"
Washington Post (03/28/95) P. B1;  Goldstein, Amy
     The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is investigating
allegations of discrimination at the Abundant Life Clinic, an
AIDS treatment center in Washington, D.C.  The clinic was
notified last week of the probe involving claims that the clinic
has failed to treat patients of all races and nationalities--a
violation of federal law.  Abundant Life, a significant source of
alternative medical treatment for poor African Americans in the
metropolitan area who have HIV or AIDS, receives federal AIDS
grants to subsidize its work and is therefore subject to U.S.
anti-discrimination statutes.  The clinic is directed by Abdul
Alim Muhammad, a doctor who is the national spokesman for Louis
Farrakhan, minister of the Nation of Islam.  Muhammad treats his
patients with an unproven drug that he claims is a potential cure
for AIDS.  He says the government is preparing to begin a
long-delayed clinical trial of the drug, low-dose alpha
interferon, and that Abundant Life will be one of the 12 sites
participating in the federally funded trial.  On Monday, the
doctor said the clinic "has no policy of discrimination" and
called the probe a form of religious harassment.

"Hemophiliacs Would Get More Time to Sue"
Philadelphia Inquirer (03/28/95) P. B4;  Shaw, Donna
     On Monday, a New Jersey Assembly panel voted unanimously in favor
of a bill that would give HIV-infected hemophiliacs additional
time to sue drug companies whose medicines were tainted with HIV.
The vote came just two weeks after the state Senate Judiciary
Committee unanimously approved the same measure.  The bill will
now go to the full Assembly and Senate.  The legislation would
open a window in New Jersey's statute of limitations, giving
hemophiliacs one year to sue one or more of the four
pharmaceutical companies involved.  Proponents of the measure
claim that lawsuits filed against the drug companies are in
danger of being dismissed because they were not filed until after
the two-year statute of limitations had expired.  The plasma
industry, however, says the bill is unconstitutional and contrary
to the goals of personal injury lawsuit reform.

"Lawyer Sees Tie to AIDS in Vaccine"
Boston Globe (03/27/95) P. 15
     A New Hampshire lawyer who thinks he may have discovered how HIV
spread from monkeys to humans is urging the government to release
data from tests it conducted on a polio vaccine in the 1970s.
Walter Kyle, who represents people harmed by vaccines, found that
an oral polio vaccine made from monkey tissue was used as an
experimental treatment for herpes sores in homosexuals in New
York City and California.  Kyle and a consumer advocacy group
have convinced the Food and Drug Administration to investigate
the possibility that test subjects may have become infected with
HIV.

"Many Drug Companies Scale Back Research in New Cost Climate"
Wall Street Journal (03/28/95) P. A10;  Browning, E.S.
     As changes in healthcare economics affect the drug business, even
the wealthiest companies are cutting back.  Most companies are
not reducing research spending, only reducing its growth rate.
The increasing complexity and expense of new medicines, however,
has caused companies to eliminate some projects they once would
have supported.  Drug-company research staffs are also being
reduced, a trend spurred by mergers.  At universities, companies
now "aren't funding the creative research, the stuff that isn't
required to get drugs on the market," says Peggy Carver of the
University of Michigan.  Carver is studying how AIDS patients'
bodies absorb the many drugs they take simultaneously.  She
frequently wakes up early to draw blood from the patients herself
because she cannot always afford to hire a nurse.  Dr. Richard
Chizzonite, a scientist at Hoffmann-La Roche, is afraid the
changes will mean less innovation.  He points to interleukin 12
as an example.  The potential cancer-fighter survived four years
of delays during the 1980s, which, he says, probably would not
have happened today.

"Condom Companies in U.S. Eye Sales Growth Abroad"
Journal of Commerce (03/28/95) P. 5A;  Green, Paula L.
     The U.S. condom industry is looking to foreign buyers as a way to
offset the slowdown in domestic sales.  Companies want to use the
United States' reputation for quality standards to boost
international sales.  "A lot of Latin American countries have
opened their import markets, and there's a perceived acceptance
of the quality of U.S.-made products," says Richard Hickling, an
executive with Ansell Inc., a leading producer of condoms.
Although condom manufacturers experienced double-digit sales
increases in the late 1980s due to media attention on AIDS, U.S.
growth has slowed.  Last year's domestic condom sales increased
about 3 percent, totaling $178 million.  Sales to institutions
such as the World Health Organization and the U.S. Agency for
International Development (AID) are a significant part of the
international market.  AID, for example, distributes condoms free
or at a subsidized rate to health ministries and nongovernmental
organizations in developing countries.  The agency shipped almost
500 million condoms overseas last year.

"Across the USA: Indiana"
USA Today (03/28/95) P. 10A
     In Westville, Ind., a dental hygiene student has tested
HIV-negative six weeks after being exposed to the virus while
treating an inmate at the Westville Correctional Center,
according to the South Bend Tribune.  The Indiana
University-Northwest student was exposed to the virus in January.

"The Cost Effectiveness of Preoperative Autologous Blood
Donations"
New England Journal of Medicine (03/16/95) Vol. 332, No. 11, P.
719;  Etchason, Jeff;  Petz, Lawrence;  Keeler, Emmett et al.
     In response to concerns of contracting HIV during blood
transfusions, there has been increasing public and professional
support for autologous blood donations before elective surgery.
Using a decision-analysis model, Etchason et al. evaluated the
cost effectiveness of donating autologous blood for four surgical
procedures.  Cost effectiveness was expressed as dollars per
quality-adjusted year of life saved.  The researchers found that
substituting autologous blood for allogeneic blood resulted in
little expected health benefit at a significantly higher cost,
ranging from $68 to $4,783 a unit.  The additional cost was
primarily due to the discarding of units that were donated but
not transfused and to the more labor-intensive donation process.
The incremental cost effectiveness varied from $235,000 to more
than $23 million per quality-adjusted year of life saved.
Considering the increased safety of allogeneic transfusions, the
increased protection produced from donating autologous blood is
limited and may not justify the increased expense, the
researchers concluded.

"Patients Can Recover from HIV-Positive Doctor"
American Medical News (03/13/95) Vol. 38, No. 10, P. 19
     A Maryland court has ruled that an HIV-positive surgeon had an
obligation to inform patients of his infection.  The physician,
an oncologic surgeon specializing in breast cancer, had known
since 1986 that he had HIV.  In October 1988, he performed a
partial mastectomy and axillary dissection.  The following March,
he removed an axillary hematoma from the same patient.  He
removed a benign lump from another patient in November 1989.  The
doctor was diagnosed with cytomegalovirus in October 1989, gave
up his practice in March 1990, terminated his association with
the hospital in June 1990, and died of AIDS in November 1990.
The two patients, who learned of their doctor's illness in
December 1990, both tested HIV-negative.  They then sued the
doctor's estate and the hospital for negligence, failure to
obtain informed consent, and intentional infliction of emotional
distress.  The two patients may recover for emotional distress to
the extent they can demonstrate its existence, the court said,
but only for the period from the time they learned the doctor had
AIDS to the time they received their negative test results.

"AIDS Drugs Count Up"
Wholesale Drugs Magazine (02/95) Vol. 47, No. 2, P. 15
     According to the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of
America (PhRMA), five new AIDS drugs have received approval over
the past year, representing the highest number to date.  U.S.
drug companies have 107 AIDS treatments in development.  The
PhRMA also said 26 drugs for AIDS and AIDS-related conditions are
now available and 81 companies are involved in AIDS research.

"HIV and Alcohol Abuse among Latina Youth"
Focus (03/95) Vol. 10, No. 4, P. 8
     In the United States, Latinas and Chicanas comprise more than 20
percent of the HIV-infected female population.  They are also
eight times more likely to contract HIV than non-Hispanic white
women.  Two small studies--one of university students, the other
of high school students--determined that family and cultural
values form these women's sense of self-efficacy in such a way as
to reinforce high-risk behaviors.  In both cases, the researchers
used focus groups and individualized surveys to define
HIV-related knowledge, alcohol and drug use, and level of
acculturation.  While most of the subjects shared a common view
that Latina youth are not supposed to have intercourse until
marriage, not drink, and not discuss sexual matters openly, at
least 80 percent reported some incidence of sexual intercourse.
Despite high levels of HIV-related knowledge, the participants
engaged in consistently high-risk sexual behavior.  The author of
the studies suggests that Latino parents need to have a more
active role in the sexual education of their children; families
need to teach and reinforce more responsible alcohol use
behaviors; and sexual partners need to share the responsibilities
of negotiating safe sex and reducing drinking.