                     AIDS Daily Summary 
                      September 6, 1995

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

************************************************************
"New Issue Update: Immune Response Corp."
"Selling Syringes: The Swiss Experiment"
"Blood Withdrawal to Cost $15-Million"
"Gilead Sciences Announces VISTIDE Available Under Treatment IND 
Program for Patients With Relapsing CMV Retinitis"
"Medizone Appoints Outside Director"
"Women's NGO Forum Leaves Chinese Unmoved"
"STD Control for HIV Prevention--It Works!"
"New Indication for Foscarnet"
"Esophageal Disease Profiled"
"The Amityville Fixer-Upper"
************************************************************

"New Issue Update: Immune Response Corp."
Investor's Business Daily (09/06/95) P. A6
     The Japanese Patent Office has issued to inventors Dr. Jonas Salk
and Dennis J. Carlo a patent which has been licensed to Immune 
Response Corp. of Carlsbad, Calif., for its HIV treatment 
product.  The product has completed Phase I and II clinical 
trials, and was recommended by an advisory committee to continue 
to Phase III tests.  Immune Response has already received a U.S. 
patent for this HIV therapy technology and has other 
international patent applications pending.
      
"Selling Syringes: The Swiss Experiment"
Wall Street Journal (09/06/95) P. A18;  Ehrenfeld, Rachel
     Before further deliberating the decriminalization of drug use, 
U.S. policy makers should consider a three-year-old Swiss program
which arose from the desire to reduce HIV infection among the 
country's 30,000 to 40,000 opiate addicts, writes Rachel 
Ehrenfeld, author of "NarcoTerrorism," in the Wall Street 
Journal.  Because previous efforts to centralize Swiss addicts in
large cities resulted in increased drug use, crime, violence and 
prostitution, the addicts are now in government-sponsored centers
and "shooting galleries."  In the program, which is scheduled to 
end in December 1996, heroin, morphine, and methadone are 
administered intravenously, orally, and by smoking.  However, 
while the program design called for supervised injections and 
support services, Ehrenfeld claims she saw none when she analyzed
one major distribution center.  Although the program is supposed 
to reduce the number of addicts, there are no indications that 
the number has decreased, nor that violence and crime have 
decreased.  Meanwhile, Swiss citizens are paying the bill for an 
increasing number of AIDS patients, welfare recipients, and 
police officers, Ehrenfeld concludes.
      
"Blood Withdrawal to Cost $15-Million"
Toronto Globe and Mail (09/05/95) P. A1;  Picard, Andre
     The Canadian Red Cross' recent decision to recall products made 
with the blood of two donors stricken with a rare neurological 
disease will cost Canadian citizens approximately C$15 million.  
"The question is: Did the risk justify the cost?" asks William 
Dobson, executive director of the Canadian Blood Agency.  Dobson 
says there was unanimous agreement that withdrawal of the blood 
products was necessary for safety reasons, but he is "concerned" 
about the high cost of the move.  "Was there due diligence 
exercised in replacing these products?" he wonders.  Indeed, the 
cost and the manner in which the recall was conducted have 
reopened a dispute about who controls the country's blood 
program--a central issue in the public inquiry into the HIV 
infection of Canada's blood supply.  In this case, the Canadian 
Red Cross and Bayer Inc. voluntarily withdrew the products; 
however, the provinces are expected to pay for their actions.
      
"Gilead Sciences Announces VISTIDE Available Under Treatment IND 
Program for Patients With Relapsing CMV Retinitis"
Business Wire (09/05/95)
     Gilead Sciences, Inc.'s drug VISTIDE (cidofovir intravenous) is 
now available under a Treatment Investigational New Drug (IND) 
program for patients with relapsing cytomegalovirus (CMV) 
retinitis.  Under the program, the drug will will be made widely 
available to AIDS patients whose CMV retinitis has progressed 
despite treatment with an approved therapy, or who cannot 
tolerate such treatment.  Treatment IND programs are part of the 
U.S. Food and Drug Administration's effort to make encouraging 
investigational drugs available to patients with serious or 
life-threatening diseases.  The rationale behind making VISTIDE 
available through a Treatment IND program is based on data 
suggesting that infrequent dosing of VISTIDE may delay the time 
to progression of CMV retinitis.  Enrollment in the program began
Sept. 5, 1995.  Interested healthcare professionals and patients 
should called 1-800-GILEAD 5.
      
"Medizone Appoints Outside Director"
Business Wire (09/05/95)
     Medizone International Inc. has named Ken Gropper, president and 
CEO of Management Consulting Group Inc. of Boston, to its board 
of directors.  The move comes after the recent approval of an 
amendment to the company's by-laws, which permitted an increase 
of the board of directors from three members to as many as seven.
The firm is currently developing its ozone-based treatment, 
called MEDIZONE, for diseases caused by lipid enveloped viruses, 
including AIDS, hepatitis B, and herpes.
      
"Women's NGO Forum Leaves Chinese Unmoved"
Reuters (09/05/95);  O'Neill, Mark
     Although political protests occur daily as part of a grassroots 
forum of women outside of Beijing, the demonstrations affect few 
of China's millions of citizens.  Media censorship and strict 
security has guaranteed that few Chinese are aware of what takes 
place at the meeting of Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs).  
At this forum, women from around the world have protested the 
rape of Moroccan women; the imprisonment of Kuwaiti prisoners of 
war in Iraq; and human rights abuses, including those in China.  
However, little of the dissent carries over to the residents of 
rural Huairou, where the meeting was moved from Beijing earlier 
this year.  Preparations for the meeting included spraying the 
site with large amounts of insecticide to eliminate mosquitos, 
although locals claim the precaution was supposed to prevent the 
spread of AIDS through insects that stung foreigners.  In 
addition, one resident said, "Once the forum is over, the hotels 
in Huairou will be closed for four months to cleanse them of AIDS
and all the diseases brought in by the foreigners."
      
"STD Control for HIV Prevention--It Works!"
Lancet (08/26/95) Vol. 346, No. 8974, P. 518;  Laga, Marie
     Grosskurth et al.'s study of the control of sexually transmitted 
diseases (STDs) and HIV infection in rural Tanzania shows that 
basic STD treatment, when integrated into primary healthcare 
services, can effect a significant reduction of HIV, writes Marie
Laga of the Institute of Tropical Medicine's STD/HIV Research and
Intervention Unit in Belgium.  One of the most noteworthy results
of this trial was that the greatest impact on HIV incidence 
occurred in females between the ages of 15 and 24, Laga notes.  
The potential for STD/HIV reduction is the highest among young 
women, who are at a greater risk for STDs and HIV due to both 
behavioral and biological reasons.  The potential benefit of this
study will rely of the prevalance of STDs in the population and 
the effectiveness of the STD program in place.  Instead of 
concentrating efforts on further calculating the attributable 
risk of STD control, Laga concludes, the focus should now be 
placed on determining how best to treat STDs.
      
"New Indication for Foscarnet"
AIDS Alert (09/95) Vol. 10, No. 9, P. 120
     The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Astra 
USA Inc.'s injectable version of foscarnet sodium for the 
treatment of acyclovir-resistant herpes simplex virus, making it 
the first approved treatment for the resulting infection in 
immunocompromised individuals.  The FDA based its approval of 
Foscavir Infection on a number of studies, including one 
published in the Aug. 22, 1991 issue of the New England Journal 
of Medicine, which compared the drug's efficacy against that of 
vidarabine.
      
"Esophageal Disease Profiled"
AIDS Clinical Care (09/95) Vol. 7, No. 9, P. 77
     A prospective study in Atlanta cataloged the etiology and course 
of esophageal ulceration in HIV-positive individuals who were 
diagnosed between 1990 and 1994.  All 100 subjects had 
symptomatic esophageal ulcer identified on endoscopy, and the 
majority had longstanding HIV infection, with an average of 15 
CD4 cells.  The researchers tabulated syndromes including 
cytomegalovirus esophagitis in 50 subjects, herpes simplex 
esophagitis in nine, idiopathic esophageal ulceration in 41, and 
gastroesophageal reflux-associated ulceration in four.  For the 
most part, clinical and endoscopic response to therapy was good, 
although 27 patients relapsed.  These findings demonstrate the 
shifting microbial etiologies of HIV-related disorders and the 
need for specific tissue diagnoses.
      
"The Amityville Fixer-Upper"
New York (08/28/95) Vol. 28, No. 34, P. 30;  Lippert-Martin, 
Kristen
     New York Gov. Pataki recently signed a bill that could make it 
easier for real-estate agents to get rid of "stigmatized 
property."  The new "haunted-house law" states that it is no 
longer relevant to the sale of a home that a former occupant died
from AIDS or that is was the site of a murder, suicide, or other 
crime.
      
