                     AIDS Daily Summary
                      December 14, 1994

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
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Copyright 1994, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD


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"Nationline: AIDS Lawsuit"
"The Reliable Source"
"Isis Begins Phase III Clinical Trials of Antisense Compound to 
Treat CMV Retinitis in Patients with AIDS"
"Inquiry May Be Costing Blood, Red Cross Says"
"Boston Biomedica, Inc. Awarded World-Wide License to Anti-AIDS 
Compounds"
"Verex Options Drug to Burroughs Wellcome"
"New Magazine for HIV Positive Readers"
"Hypopyon Uveitis in Patients with Acquired Immunodeficiency 
Syndrome Treated for Systemic Mycobacterium Avium Complex 
Infection with Rifabutin"
Learning about HIV-2"
"AIDS Activist Blames Partisanship for Lack of Progress"
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"Nationline: AIDS Lawsuit"
USA Today (12/14/94) P. 3A;  Leavitt, Paul
     Arvin Peterson's claim that he got AIDS from a pork sandwich at a
Huntington Park McDonald's in 1992 was rejected by a Los Angeles 
jury.  Peterson, who is HIV-positive, claimed the McRib sandwich 
contained shigella bacteria that reduced his T-cell count.  The 
jury was deadlocked on the two issues--which will be retried--of 
whether the McDonald's store violated health or safety rules and 
whether it destroyed evidence.
      
"The Reliable Source"
Washington Post (12/14/94) P. C3;  Romano, Lois
     While in Portugal on behalf of a local AIDS charity, the Duchess 
of York revealed that she had been tested three times for 
HIV--once before her marriage to Prince Andrew and before getting
pregnant with each of her two daughters.  "People must be more 
open about the disease.  It seems to me that the slogan 'The 
treatment for AIDS is education' would be appropriate," she 
commented to the Lisbon daily Diario de Noticias.
      
"Isis Begins Phase III Clinical Trials of Antisense Compound to 
Treat CMV Retinitis in Patients with AIDS"
PR Newswire (12/14/94)
     Isis Pharmaceuticals is initiating Phase III clinical trials of 
ISIS 2922, an antisense compound to treat cytomegalovirus 
(CMV)-induced retinitis in AIDS patients.  If not treated, CMV 
retinitis can cause permanent retinal damage and blindness.  A 
product of collaboration between Isis and Eisai Company, Ltd., 
ISIS  2922 inhibits the CMV messenger RNA (mRNA) which controls 
the virus' life cycle.  The trials will involve two study 
designs--one comparing immediate ISIS 2922 therapy with delayed 
therapy, and the other comparing treatment with ISIS 2922 in 
combination with ganciclovir to ganciclovir alone.  The results 
of the Phase I/II clinical trial that were presented at the 
International AIDS Conference in Yokohama, Japan, showed that 
ISIS 2922 was well-tolerated by the patients in the trial and 
that a majority of the participants experienced rapid remission 
of their CMV retinitis.
      
"Inquiry May Be Costing Blood, Red Cross Says"
Toronto Globe and Mail (12/13/94) P. A8;  Coutts, Jane
     Dr. Roslyn Herst, director of the Red Cross blood center in 
Toronto, said on Monday that the Canadian Red Cross is short of 
blood and that the attention being focused on the issue in the 
Krever Commission inquiry may be one of the factors reducing the 
flow.  "Perhaps some of the information out of Krever is 
confusing the general public...They may have doubts about the 
blood supply as a whole," she said.  The Krever recommendation 
that blood use should be curtailed may also be to blame.  The 
panel that prepared the safety audit cited eliminating overuse of
blood as the single most important change that could be made to 
increase the safety of the blood system.  Dr. Peter Pinkerton, 
director of the Sunnybrook Health Science Center blood bank, said
that present blood supplies are low enough that elective surgery 
could pose a problem.  While the Red Cross Toronto center usually
collects about 800 units of blood a day, current donations are in
the range of only 650 to 700 units a day.
      
"Boston Biomedica, Inc. Awarded World-Wide License to Anti-AIDS 
Compounds"
PR Newswire (12/13/94)
     Boston Biomedica, Inc. (BBI) has been awarded the world-wide 
exclusive license to six anti-AIDS compounds by the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH).  The compounds were 
recently discovered in a collaborative study between Biotech 
Research Laboratories--a subsidiary of BBI--and UNC-CH to test 
large numbers of plant derivatives for anti-HIV activity.  The 
six compounds have all shown significant anti-HIV-1 activity in 
vitro and are potential therapeutic agents which could be used to
fight AIDS.  "The early phase of identifying and purifying these 
high anti-HIV activity compounds has now been completed.  The 
next phase of this work will require more extensive follow-up of 
their biological activity to evaluate them for suitability as 
potential new anti-AIDS drugs," said Dr. K.H. Lee, the Director 
of the Natural Products Laboratory at UNC-CH.
      
"Verex Options Drug to Burroughs Wellcome"
PR Newswire (12/13/94)
     Verex Laboratories Inc. entered into an agreement with Burroughs 
Wellcome Co. on Nov. 30, 1994, in which Verex granted Wellcome an
option to obtain an exclusive worldwide license to a controlled 
release rate formulation of zidovudine (AZT) developed by Verex 
called Aztec.  For an option fee, Wellcome has received the right
of first refusal to acquire a license to make, have made, use, 
sell, and sublicense Aztec.  Wellcome is also able to obtain 
without limitation information concerning research and testing on
Aztec.  According to the agreement, Verex must provide Wellcome 
with various evaluation data to help Wellcome further assess the 
Aztec controlled release rate zidovudine product.  Aztec, which 
stands for AZT Efficiently Controlled, is being studied at sites 
around the United States in the treatment of people with HIV or 
AIDS.
      
"New Magazine for HIV Positive Readers"
Reuters (12/13/94);  Schoolman, Judith
     POZ, a new magazine designed for readers with HIV or AIDS and 
their families and friends, deals with the realities of living 
with HIV infection and AIDS.  It is "a broadscope general 
consumer magazine, but one with an AIDS spin to it," says editor 
Richard Perez-Feria.  The brainchild of publisher Sean Strub, who
has been living with AIDS for 14 years, POZ's goal is to dispel 
myths about HIV and AIDS.  Although many people with AIDS in the 
United States are homosexual men, Perez-Feria describes POZ as 
having an "omni-sexual orientation."  Anyone who contacts the 
magazine and identifies themselves as HIV-infected will receive 
free issues of POZ, he says.
      
"Hypopyon Uveitis in Patients with Acquired Immunodeficiency 
Syndrome Treated for Systemic Mycobacterium Avium Complex 
Infection with Rifabutin"
Journal of the American Medical Association (12/07/94) Vol. 272, 
No. 21, P. 1636p
     Iridocyclitis is a dosage-dependent side effect in AIDS patients 
being treated for Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) infection 
with systemic rifabutin.  In a retrospective study, researchers 
reviewed seven cases of acute hypopyon uveitis imitating 
infectious endophthalmitis in AIDS patients to determine whether 
there was an association.  Each of the patients was receiving 
treatment for MAC infection with rifabutin and clarithromycin.  
Microbiological investigations showed negative results in five 
patients.  While hypopyon developed in the contralateral eye in 
five patients, iridocyclitis became bilateral in all seven.  The 
hypopyon cleared up quickly with intensive topical corticosteroid
therapy.  The researchers concluded that the use of rifabutin, 
clarithromycin, and fluconazole concomitantly may precipitate 
hypopyon uveitis in AIDS patients being treated for MAC 
infection.
      
"Learning about HIV-2"
Lancet (11/19/94) Vol. 344, No. 8934, P. 1380;  O'Shaughnessy, 
Michael V.;  Schechter, Martin T.
     Although HIV-1 and HIV-2 are related, the molecular organizations
of the two viruses are different and their genetic homology is 
modest, write O'Shaughnessy et al in a letter to the editor. In 
comparison to HIV-1, HIV-2 has lower rates of sexual and 
perinatal transmission, lower cell killing, lower viral burdens, 
more gradual CD4 cell loss, slower rates of progression to AIDS 
and death, and relative geographical confinement.  Although 
relatively little is known about why the two viruses act 
differently, HIV-2 may provide a useful model in the efforts to 
control HIV-1.  Greater understanding of the structure and 
function relationships of the viral genes that are critical to 
the disease process may be derived from studies focusing on the 
two viruses' genetic differences.  Because there are no perfect 
models with which to study HIV, one must exercise caution in 
extrapolating results to HIV-1.  The use of transgenic mice and 
in-vitro studies of genetically altered HIV-1 variants should 
also be pursued because they may provide insight into 
tranmissability and pathogenicity.
      
"AIDS Activist Blames Partisanship for Lack of Progress"
Nation's Health (11/94) Vol. 24, No. 10, P. 7
     As the 103rd Congress came to a close, AIDS advocates lamented 
its list of unfinished business.  "Despite some gains in AIDS 
funding, partisan politics kept much AIDS-related legislation 
from making significant advances," said Daniel Bross, executive 
director of the AIDS Action Council.  Lobbyists for the group say
they worked twice as hard this year for modest funding gains in 
light of the new budget constraints.  Next year--when the new 
Congress will be more fiscally and idealogically 
conservative--will be more difficult, added Bross.
      
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