Subject: Suit Over Federal Delays On AIDS Drugs Dismissed
Date: Published: 5/2/88 35 lines
Source:  WALL STREET JOURNAL. Copyright Dow Jones & Co. Inc. 

   Suit Over Federal Delays
   On AIDS Drugs Dismissed

   SAN FRANCISCO -- National Gay Rights Advocates said that
its lawsuit against the Department of Health and Human
Services for allegedly delaying approval of new AIDS drugs
was dismissed by a federal court.
   The lawsuit, filed by the public interest law firm last
June in U. S. District Court in Washington, charged the Food
and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health
with excessive delays in the development, testing and
licensing of new medicines for AIDS. The suit, which was
styled as a class action, was brought in the name of people
who are infected with the virus that causes acquired immune
deficiency syndrome.
   The lawsuit had contrasted the swift development of the
Burroughs-Wellcome Co. drug AZT, which now is approved for
treatment of AIDS and related conditions, with the long and
complicated history of ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc. 's drug
ribavirin.  Ribavirin has been rebuffed by the FDA, but
federal scientsts have said this was because the drug's first
test was biased, not because of favoritism toward other
companies.  Testing of ribavirin, meanwhile, is continuing.
   National Gay Rights Advocates said it hasn't decided
whether it will appeal the dismissal.

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