Subject: Hoffmann-La Roche Halts Comparison of AIDS Drugs
Date: Published: 1/20/92 (32 lines)
Source: Wall Street Journal. Copyright Dow Jones & Co. Inc.

    Technology & Health:
    Hoffmann-La Roche Halts
    Comparison of AIDS Drugs

    NUTLEY, N. J. (AP) -- A Hoffmann-La Roche Inc. study
 comparing the company's AIDS drug with AZT has been called
 off because the new drug proved less effective, the company
 said.
    The study showed that fewer people died while on the
 commonly used AZT, or azidothymidine, than while using
 Hoffmann's drug DDC, or dideoxycytidine, said a company
 spokesman.  AZT is made by Burroughs Wellcome Co., a unit of
 Wellcome PLC. 
    Of the 320 people who took DDC, 59 died, compared with 33
 of the 315 who took AZT, he said.
    Hoffmann, a unit of Roche Holding Ltd., stopped the
 comparison study in late December, a year earlier than
 planned.  The study involved people with AIDS who had not used
 AZT in the past or had been on it for less than three months.
    The spokesman said DDC is still being studied to see how
 effective it would be for people who find AZT intolerable or
 if it were used along with AZT.  Hoffmann has applied to the
 U. S. Food and Drug Administration to market the drug for
 those purposes.

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