Subject: Federal Agencies Agree to Broaden AIDS Vaccine Test 
Date: Published: 4/16/93 (54 lines)
Source: Wall Street Journal. Copyright Dow Jones & Co. Inc.

    Technology:
    Federal Agencies
    Agree to Broaden
    AIDS Vaccine Test
    ----
    By Gregory N. Racz
    Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

    WASHINGTON -- Responding to criticism that the government was
 favoring one pharmaceutical company over others, the Defense
 Department and the Health and Human Services Department agreed to
 broaden a planned test of long-shot AIDS vaccines.
    Congress originally provided $20 million for the Defense
 Department to conduct clinical trials of only one vaccine,
 MicroGeneSys Inc. 's VaxSyn, at the Walter Reed Army Institute of
 Research.  But under pressure from federal officials and AIDS
 experts, the department transferred the funds to the human services
 agency's National Institutes of Health for wider testing.
    Unlike the proposed Defense Department tests, the NIH trials will
 include several experimental vaccines.  The trials will be headed by
 the NIH arm handling AIDS research, the National Institute of
 Allergy and Infectious Diseases.  NIH spokeswoman Johanna Schneider
 said the clinical trials will involve 6,000 to 12,000 people
 infected with the human immunodeficiency virus.  The goal of
 therapeutic AIDS vaccines is to slow or stop the development of HIV
 in those already infected.
    To have their products included in the trials, pharmaceutical
 companies will be required to supply them free to the NIH. Frank
 Volvovitz, MicroGeneSys's president, said his company hasn't decided
 whether to participate in the expanded study.  But Genentech Inc. and
 Chiron Corp., both based in California, said they were pleased with
 the changes and would participate in the new trials if asked.
 Another maker of therapeutic AIDS vaccines, Germany's Immuno AG,
 couldn't be reached to comment.
    "A competitive trial of several experimental vaccines will
 provide the greatest public health benefit and is in the best
 interests of AIDS patients," Genentech spokeswoman Laura Leber said.
    When Congress provided money for the trial, it specified that
 only MicroGeneSys's VaxSyn could be tested, after the company hired
 former Sen. Russell Long (D., La.)  to lobby key lawmakers.  But
 lawmakers said the government agencies involved could decide after a
 review to include other vaccines.
    The Defense Department didn't remove itself entirely from the
 project.  Department spokeswoman Susan Hansen said the Pentagon may
 offer advice and expertise where appropriate.

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