Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary Date: Fri, 12 Jan 1996 11:05:02 PST (121 lines of text) From: National AIDS Info Clearinghouse Copyright 1996, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD AIDS Daily Summary January 12, 1996 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National AIDS Clearinghouse makes available the following information as a public service only. Providing this information does not constitute endorsement by the CDC, the CDC Clearinghouse, or any other organization. Reproduction of this text is encouraged; however, copies may not be sold, and the CDC Clearinghouse should be cited as the source of this information. Copyright 1995, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD ************************************************************ "Zimbabwe AIDS Toll Continues to Rise" "SEQUUS Pharmaceuticals Receives Approval for AMPHOCIL in Brazil, Denmark and Singapore" "XOMA Corp. Chooses Antifungal Compound Mycoprex for Development" "Center for Special Immunology Announces CSI Foundation Executive Director" "One-third of Argentine Convicts May Have HIV" "For a Change, an AIDS Success Story" "Wasting Syndrome:Oral Oxandrolone Re-released in U.S." "Special Bulletin: Trials Open to Enrollment" ************************************************************ "Zimbabwe AIDS Toll Continues to Rise" Reuters (01/11/96) The total number of AIDS cases recorded in Zimbabwe since 1987 is 48,882, including about 11,000 new cases recorded during the first nine months of 1995. During 1994, 10,647 cases were reported, a health ministry official told the state news agency ZIANA. The majority of the new reported cases were among people aged 30 to 39. The ministry approximates that about 1 million Zimbabweans, out of a total 1992 population of 10.4 million, are infected with HIV. "SEQUUS Pharmaceuticals Receives Approval for AMPHOCIL in Brazil, Denmark and Singapore" Business Wire (01/11/96) SEQUUS Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced Thursday that AMPHOCIL, a drug used for treating fungal infections, has been approved in Brazil, Denmark and Singapore. The drug, which will be marketed and sold by Zeneca Pharmaceuticals, has already been cleared for marketing in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Finland and Russia. SEQUUS is developing the drug to treat life-threatening infections, like those often afflicting patients with impaired immunity. An increased population of these patients and the increase in opportunistic infections has fueled a rise in the antifungal therapy market. "XOMA Corp. Chooses Antifungal Compound Mycoprex for Development" Business Wire (01/11/96) XOMA Corp. announced Thursday that it has chosen a lead compound and alternates to use in the development of its antifungal drug. The company will now be able to move the project from the research phase into an intensive product development phase. XOMA wants to submit an IND for the compound, called Mycoprex, by the end of 1996. "There is an urgent medical need for safer and more powerful fungicidals," because the incidence of fungal infections in hospitalized patients is increasing, said Dr. Lowell Young of the Kuzell Institute in San Francisco. "Center for Special Immunology Announces CSI Foundation Executive Director" Business Wire (01/11/96) Alain Berrebi was named executive director of the Center for Special Immunology's (CSI) Foundation for Research, the group announced Thursday. The CSI Foundation for Research is a not-for-profit corporation that supports AIDS-related medical and research projects. The Foundation will coordinate the national expansion of CSI's Immune Reconstitution Cell Transfer Program, now in a Phase I clinical trial in Fort Lauderdale, and help with other drug studies that involve treating late-stage AIDS. Berrebi will be in charge of raising money for AIDS research. "One-third of Argentine Convicts May Have HIV" Reuters (01/09/96) An estimated one-third of all Argentine prisoners may be HIV-positive, a government prison official said Tuesday. After voluntary testing of the prison population, 7 percent tested positive for the virus. A study showed, however, that, at a large jail in Buenos Aires, 50 percent of the inmates were carrying HIV. The increasing infection rates come at the same time as an increase in the proportion of prisoners who are injection drug users and share needles. "For a Change, an AIDS Success Story" U.S. News & World Report (01/08/96) Vol.120, No.1, P. 16 A new study shows that out of 12 million annual blood donations, only about 18 to 27 donations infected with HIV are not detected. This new estimate is half the risk estimated in 1992. For any one patient receiving a blood transfusion, the risk of getting infected blood is 1 in 83,000 to 1 in 122,000. Eve Lackritz and colleagues at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analyzed 4.1 million blood donations from 1992 and 1993. Tests that will be even more sensitive to the virus are being developed and could make the potential risk even smaller. "Wasting Syndrome:Oral Oxandrolone Re-released in U.S." AIDS Treatment News (12/22/95) No.237, P. 3; James, John S. The oral anabolic steroid oxandrolone, which may offer one way to treat wasting syndrome, became available again in the United States in December 1995. Oxandrolone is not primarily metabolized in the liver, and like other anabolic steroids, works by promoting the synthesis of proteins. Wasting syndrome involves the abnormal loss of protein and lean body mass. Although oxandrolone was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) more than 30 years ago to promote weight gain to replace weight lost due to infectious illness, U.S. companies stopped offering the drug instead of meeting the increasing mandatory regulations. Bio-Technology General Corp., a small drug company, has re-released oxandrolone for weight gain, and is researching its use for 4 other conditions, which it now has orphan-drug status for, including AIDS wasting. "Special Bulletin: Trials Open to Enrollment." AIDS Clinical Trials Information Service, 01/11/96 All NIH sponsored clinical trials are once again open to enrollment. Call the AIDS Clinical Trials Information Service at 1-800-TRIALS-A for additional information. AIDS Daily News will not publish on Monday, January 15 in honor of the Martin Luther King holiday. Publication will resume on Tuesday, January 16.