Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary Date: Fri Jan 10 11:23:26 PST 1997 (164 lines of text) From: National AIDS Info Clearinghouse Copyright 1997, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD AIDS Daily Summary January 10, 1997 The CDC National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention makes available the following information as a public service only. Providing this information does not constitute endorsement by the CDC. Reproduction of this text is encouraged; however, copies may not be sold, and the CDC National AIDS Clearinghouse should be cited as the source of this information. Copyright 1996, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD ****************************************************** "Ribozyme and Chiron Win FDA Approval to Test HIV Drug" "The Marijuana Club" "There's No Imbalance in AIDS Vaccine Research" "Chronicle: In the Fight Against AIDS, a New Symbol" "Next Front in the AIDS War" "Drug Mixtures Work in AIDS Battle" "Early Immune Patterns Map AIDS Patients' Future" "Workshop on Human Rights of AIDS Patients to Be Held in Tanzania" "Privileges Are Revoked for HIV-Positive Surgeon" "Unmasked Avenger" ****************************************************** "Ribozyme and Chiron Win FDA Approval to Test HIV Drug" Wall Street Journal (01/10/97) P. B2 The Food and Drug Administration has granted approval to Ribozyme Pharmaceuticals and Chiron to begin a small human trial of an HIV drug that uses gene therapy. The therapy, which involves removing cells from a patient, treating, and replacing them, is designed to boost the immune system. The trial will begin in the first half of 1997 and will involve five patients at City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte, CA, and at Children's Hospital in Los Angeles. In Nasdaq Stock Market trading on Thursday, shares of Ribozyme went up 19 percent to $15, while Chiron shares rose 37.5 cents to $19.875 a share. "The Marijuana Club" New York Times (01/10/97) P. B1; Fisher, Ian The New York City Medical Marijuana Buyers' Club provides marijuana to about 80 people, mostly persons with AIDS. The group's leaders have recently become more public, in an attempt to garner support for a state initiative to legalize the medical use of the drug. In light of the White House's efforts to fight the new medical marijuana laws in California and Arizona, the risks of operating this illegal service are increasing. A member of the N.Y. State Assembly plans to introduce a medical marijuana bill this year, one that is more restrictive than the California and Arizona laws, but its future is bleak, facing tough opposition from Republicans. "There's No Imbalance in AIDS Vaccine Research" New York Times (01/10/97) P. A32; Varmus, Harold In response to a commentary that criticized the government's AIDS vaccine research effort, National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Harold Varmus refutes the writers' claims in a letter to the editor of the New York Times. Bruce G. Weniger and Max Essex had recently criticized NIH for supporting academic science while neglecting applied research. Varmus argues, however, that the vaccine research effort includes both, and he points out that more than 2,000 uninfected study participants have enrolled in 33 Phase I and II trials, which tested at least 16 different vaccines. He also notes that NIH has added to its vaccine research staff and funding. "Chronicle: In the Fight Against AIDS, a New Symbol" New York Times (01/10/97) P. B5; Brozan, Nadine Pop artist Kenny Scharf has designed a new symbol for the fight against AIDS, the "AIDS Monster." Feeling that the red AIDS ribbon is too weak a symbol, Scharf created a creature made up of red spike-like formations, to represent the HIV cell. The "monster" will be presented Tuesday in a preview of an auction to benefit New York's Bailey House, which provides housing for AIDS patients. "This is an actual visualization of the virus," Scharf said, "I gave it an evil face. It is important to confront the monster and say, 'We can look at you every day and still go on and kill you.'" "Next Front in the AIDS War" Boston Globe (01/09/97) P. A16 As advances in AIDS treatments help people with the disease survive longer, the services needed by this population will change, according to a Boston Globe editorial. Noting that Boston's Hospice at Mission Hill is closing due to a lack of demand, the editors say that society will still need to ease the pain of those dying from AIDS, but it should also help those living with AIDS fight discrimination, seek employment, and find housing. "Drug Mixtures Work in AIDS Battle" Toronto Globe and Mail (01/08//97) P. A6; Gadd, Jane New drug treatments against HIV infection have caused the rate of deaths due to AIDS in British Columbia to decrease dramatically over the past two years. The B.C. Center for Excellence in HIV/AIDS reports that the number of deaths among the 2,000 people who are treated at the center declined from 70 per 1,000 at the beginning of 1994 to 23 per 1,000 at the end of 1996. Officials at the center caution, however, that the death rate may increase again as the virus adapts to the new therapies. The researchers have also not yet completed a study of the quality of life among the survivors. "Early Immune Patterns Map AIDS Patients' Future" Reuters (01/09/97) A patient's early immune response to HIV infection may predict the progression of the disease, government researchers reported Thursday. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and colleagues, reported their findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The researchers found that people whose immune system generated only one type of CD8+ T cells would develop symptoms of disease earlier than those with several subtypes of the cells. "Workshop on Human Rights of AIDS Patients to Be Held in Tanzania" Xinhua News Agency (01/09/97) A workshop to consider human rights for people with HIV/AIDS will be held in Tanzania and will include medical and legal professionals, policy makers, employers, and AIDS patients. The event, to be held January 13-15, is sponsored by the Tanzania National AIDS Control Program and the United Nations Development Program in Tanzania. Participants will discuss ways to guarantee human rights for people with the disease. "Privileges Are Revoked for HIV-Positive Surgeon" American Medical News (01/06/97) Vol. 40, No. 1, P. 22 An HIV-positive surgeon who sued the parent corporation of a hospital after his clinical privileges were suspended was denied his request for partial summary judgment by a federal trial court in Pennsylvania. The surgeon had told the director of surgery at the hospital that he was HIV-positive in 1991, at which time he was encouraged to stop performing surgery and to notify his former patients that he was infected. The hospital's parent company was granted permission to inform the surgeon's past patients of his HIV status and sent out 1,050 notices. The company also suspended the surgeon's clinical privileges to perform invasive procedures unless he documented the patient's awareness of the fact that he had HIV. The surgeon sued the corporation under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act, and both sides filed for partial summary judgment. The court ruled that the surgeon had not proven that performing surgery did not pose a significant risk to his patients. The court held that, while the risk of transmitting HIV during surgery was low, it would not decline and the possible consequences were catastrophic. "Unmasked Avenger" POZ (12/96-1/97) No. 19, P. 54; Armstrong, Walter Dana Kuhn was a Protestant minister and father of two when he contracted HIV through a tainted blood-clotting factor in 1983. Unknowingly, he then infected his wife, who died of AIDS four years later. Kuhn left the church and found a job at the Medical College of Virginia counseling families affected by HIV and hemophilia. Working there, the man found documents showing how the blood industry, government agencies, and the National Hemophilia Foundation (NHF) knowingly permitted the distribution of contaminated blood and blood products. Upon discovering these documents, Kuhn confronted agency officials and the NHF, which denied the allegations. Kuhn thus started publishing and distributing copies of the information. He has since become a leading AIDS activist and was influential in Congress' decision to introduce the Ricky Ray Hemophilia Relief Fund Act.