Subject: Antibiotic Cited For Pneumonia Related to AIDS 
Date: Published: 9/9/91 (61 lines)
Source:  Wall Street Journal.  Copyright Dow Jones & Co. Inc. 

    Technology:
    Antibiotic Cited
    For Pneumonia
    Related to AIDS
    ----
    By Hilary Stout
    Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

    WASHINGTON -- Scientists have found that a common,
 inexpensive antibiotic is more effective in preventing
 relapses of an AIDS-related pneumonia than the only drug on
 the market specifically approved for treating the infection.
    The pneumonia, known as PCP, is the most common
 life-threatening infection afflicting AIDS patients.
 According to the Department of Health and Human Services,
 recent clinical trials showed that PCP was 3.25 times more
 likely to recur in patients taking preventive aerosolized
 pentamadine, the only drug approved for treating the
 pneumonia, than in patients taking the antibiotic TMP/SMX,
 known by the trade names Bactrim or Septra.  Both groups were
 also taking the AIDS drug zidovudine, commonly known as AZT.  
    The findings are encouraging news for AIDS patients, who
 have found that the few drugs available for the disease are
 enormously costly.  According to a recent article in the
 Journal of the American Medical Association, using TMP/SMX
 instead of aerosolized pentamadine for secondary PCP could
 save patients $3,000 a year.
    "Cost-effective strategies are tremendously important to
 preserve the integrity of our overburdened health care
 system," HHS Secretary Louis Sullivan said in a statement
 announcing the results of the trials.  "Patients need to
 consult with their physicians, however, to determine what is
 the most appropriate therapy for them."
    The study, conducted by Robert Holzman of New York
 University School of Medicine and W. David Hardy of
 University of California at Los Angeles, evaluated 310 AIDS
 patients, who received a double-strength tablet of TMP/SMX
 daily, or 300 milligrams of aerosolized pentamidine every
 four weeks.  There were 50 recurrences of PCP during the
 study, 14 among those taking TMP/SMX and 35 among those
 taking aerosolized pentamidine.
    "This study provides definitive proof that {TMP/SMX} is
 more effective than aerosolized pentamidine in preventing
 recurrent PCP," said Anthony Fauci, director of the federal
 National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
    In fact, scientists thought the findings were so
 convincing that they stopped the study on Aug. 30, nine
 months earlier than scheduled.
    Scientists emphasized that both drugs are effective.
 Aerosolized pentamidine is marketed by Lyphomed, a Deerfield,
 Ill., division of Fujisawa USA Inc.  Lyphomed officials
 weren't immediately available for comment.  TMP/SMX is
 generic.

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