Subject: Federal Scientists Expand Tests Of Two Vaccines Against AIDS 
Date: Published: 12/2/92 (61 lines)
Source: Wall Street Journal. Copyright Dow Jones & Co. Inc.

    Technology & Medicine:
    Federal Scientists Expand Tests
    Of Two Vaccines Against AIDS
    ----
    By Marilyn Chase
    Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

    Federal scientists expanded clinical tests of two AIDS vaccines,
 which they plan to give to hundreds of volunteers.
    The vaccines were genetically engineered by Genentech Inc. of
 South San Francisco, Calif., and by Biocine, an Emeryville, Calif.,
 joint venture of Chiron Corp. and Ciba-Geigy.  Both products appeared
 free of unwanted side effects in earlier safety trials.
    What's different about this trial is its size and its focus upon
 populations at risk.  Researchers hope to recruit 320 uninfected men
 and women ages 18 to 60 to volunteer at one of five test sites in
 Seattle, Baltimore, St. Louis, Nashville, Tenn., and Rochester, N. Y. 
    Scientists are especially inviting minorities and other groups
 hard-hit by the virus to take part.  Medical ethics dictate that all
 volunteers be counseled to avoid unprotected sexual and drug-taking
 behavior that puts them at risk of infection.
    The test is also significant because it involves vaccines against
 two common strains of the AIDS virus, known as MN and SF2, rather
 than a laboratory strain used in many prior studies.  The two
 vaccines will be weighed against a placebo, providing a more solid
 basis for comparing results.
    "We are pleased that progress in HIV vaccine research allows us
 to move these products into the first Phase II trial of prophylactic
 candidate HIV vaccines," said Anthony Fauci, director of the
 National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.  The agency
 will continue to work with Genentech and Biocine as trials progress
 toward full-scale efficacy studies.
    "Previous safety trials were in people deliberately chosen to be
 at low risk of AIDS," Dr. Fauci added.  "This population will more
 closely reflect people who would ultimately be candidates for a
 preventative vaccine.  Its not an efficacy trial, but it's the next
 step in the evolution toward an efficacy trial."
    Daniel Hoth, director of the agency's AIDS division, said an
 ideal vaccine must stimulate the body to martial an array of
 infection-fighting antibodies and killer cells with the "intensity,
 duration and breadth to prevent the virus from causing disease."
    However, experts acknowledge that's a tall order, due to the
 dizzying variety of HIV strains, the virus's power to mutate
 swiftly, and its ability to infect people simultaneously with more
 than one strain.
    The new trial follows the recent controversy over a $20 million
 military appropriation, awarded after heavy lobbying, to
 MicroGeneSys of Meriden, Conn., to test its therapeutic vaccine in
 people already infected by HIV.  
    In late over-the-counter trading, Chiron shares were quoted at
 $56.625, up 87.5 cents.  Genentech was quoted at $37.875, down 37.5
 cents, in late New York Stock Exchange trading.

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