Subject: Dow Tests a Drug to Treat Pneumonia Tied to AIDS
Date: Published: 5/9/86 32 lines
Source:  Wall Street Journal.  Copyright Dow Jones & Co. Inc. 

   Dow Tests a Drug to Treat
   Pneumonia Tied to AIDS

   MIDLAND, Mich. -- Dow Chemical Co. said it has developed a
drug that shows initial positive results in treating a type
of pneumonia often fatal to victims of acquired immune
deficiency syndrome, or AIDS. 
   Dow said the drug, called eflornithine hydrochloride, is
still being tested and has been granted "orphan drug" status
by the Food and Drug Administration, which approves the
marketing of new drugs.  The status expedites the
application-for-approval procedure.
   Dow said the form of pneumonia is called pneumocystis
carinii.
   It said that about 60% of people diagnosed as having AIDS
are first diagnosed because of the presence of the pneumonia.
It said it has tested 150 patients with the pneumonia who had
not responded to other treatment.  Of the 150 patients, Dow
eventually gathered data on 66 patients who completed the
minimum treatment cycle with the experimental drug.  The
company said that 74% of the 66 patients were cured of the
pneumonia.

(This article is made available here by Dow Jones Co. for the 
personal and non-commercial use of callers to this bbs, in the 
hope that it will be of some help to those who are suffering 
from the disease and others who are seeking to help them.)