                     AIDS Daily Summary 
                     September 11, 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


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"D.C. AIDS Clinic Makes Deal with Insurance Buyer"
"Across the USA: Utah"
"World's Youth Face AIDS, Unemployment, Illiteracy"
"Chronicle: For Rosie Perez, a 10-Kilometer Act of Penance In 
Memory of a Friend"
"Complaint Launched over Blood Records"
"Over 8,000 AIDS Cases in Western Pacific--WHO"
"SEQUUS Pharmaceuticals Receives Approvable Letter for DOXIL"
"Oral Ganciclovir as Maintenance Treatment for Cytomegalovirus 
Retinitis in Patients with AIDS"
"Laying Out the Rules for AIDS Vaccine Trials"
"Your Health: AIDS Guidelines"
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"D.C. AIDS Clinic Makes Deal with Insurance Buyer"
Washington Post (09/11/95) P. A1;  Pan, Philip P.
     The Whitman-Walker Clinic, Washington, D.C.'s largest AIDS 
services provider, and New York-based Life Entitlements Corp., a 
viatical settlement firm, have established a financial 
relationship which opponents claim raises several ethical issues.
Under the agreement, the clinic will receive 3 percent of the 
face value of all life insurance policies purchased within 100 
miles of the city by Life Entitlements.  In return, 
Whitman-Walker will permit the insurance company to use its name 
in advertisements and brochures.  Jim Graham, executive director 
of Whitman-Walker, said the move was made in part because of the 
clinic's financial problems, which reflect $1.2 million in late 
payments from the city government.  Although many people say 
there is nothing wrong with the arrangement, others claim it is 
immoral for a health clinic to be linked to a business profiting 
from a person's death.  Some also say there is a conflict of 
interest for Whitman-Walker, which often helps people with AIDS 
with their financial arrangements.
      
"Across the USA: Utah"
USA Today (09/11/95) P. 10A
     LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah, has created a hotline and 
is offering free HIV testing to anyone who may have received 
incorrectly screened blood from its blood bank during the past 
eight years.
      
"World's Youth Face AIDS, Unemployment, Illiteracy"
Reuters (09/11/95);  O'Neill, Mark
     At the Fourth United Nations Conference on Women in Beijing, much
attention was focused on the bleak future of millions of young 
women across the world.  "Half of those exposed to the HIV virus 
are under 25," said conference secretary-general Gertrude 
Mongella, a former Tanzanian parliamentarian.  She said she felt 
"saddened...by the horrifying spectre of HIV and AIDS, with the 
young most at risk."  Other issues discussed included illiteracy 
and child prostitution.
      
"Chronicle: For Rosie Perez, a 10-Kilometer Act of Penance In 
Memory of a Friend"
New York Times (09/11/95) P. B12
     Actress Rosie Perez described her participation in Sunday's AIDS 
Walk Colorado, a 10-kilometer trek which benefits AIDS service 
agencies, as an act of penance.  Perez said her desire to fight 
the disease came after the death of a friend whom she had been 
too scared to see.  "I kept saying, 'Yeah, yeah, I'll be there,' 
but when I finally showed up he'd died the day before," she 
explained.
      
"Complaint Launched over Blood Records"
Toronto Globe and Mail (09/08/95) P. A8
     Canadian Information Commissioner John Grace will launch an 
investigation this week into the destruction of records 
associated with the tainted-blood scandal, Alan Leadbetter, 
deputy information commissioner, said last Thursday.  Evidence 
recently presented at the inquiry into the country's blood system
revealed that the Canadian Blood Committee agreed to destroy all 
transcripts and audio tapes of its meetings six years ago, at 
which time an estimated 1,500 people had been infected with HIV 
from tainted blood or blood products.  The evidence indicated 
that the documents were destroyed so that they could not be 
obtained under the Access to Information Act.  Grace is 
investigating the Health Department because it managed the 
secretariat that held the records, Leadbetter said.
      
"Over 8,000 AIDS Cases in Western Pacific--WHO"
Reuters (09/08/95)
     There are 8,401 cases of AIDS in 26 of the 36 nations in the 
western Pacific region, a new survey from the World Health 
Organization (WHO) shows.  Eighty-five percent of the total 
number came from Australia, Japan, and New Zealand, said WHO 
regional director S.T. Han.  Countries showing a significant 
increase in HIV and AIDS cases include Cambodia, China, Malaysia,
Vietnam, and the Philippines--a trend which the WHO attributes to
commercial sex activity, the spread of sexually transmitted 
diseases, and injection drug use.  According to Han, the number 
of AIDS cases would further increase once HIV begins developing 
into full-blown AIDS among infected people, although "the 
absolute number of fresh HIV infection cases will be minimized or
reduced because of education."
      
"SEQUUS Pharmaceuticals Receives Approvable Letter for DOXIL"
Business Wire (09/08/95)
     SEQUUS Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced on Friday that it had 
received a letter from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 
which says that its DOXIL Injection (pegylated-liposomal 
doxorubicin HCI) is approvable for the treatment of 
AIDS-associated Kaposi's sarcoma patients in whom combination 
therapy has failed because of either disease progression or 
toxicity.  L. Scott Minick, SEQUUS President and Chief Operating 
Officer, said that marketing approval of DOXIL would be granted 
pending the company's response to issues in the FDA letter 
concerning labeling, chemistry, manufacturing, and control of the
drug.
      
"Oral Ganciclovir as Maintenance Treatment for Cytomegalovirus 
Retinitis in Patients with AIDS"
New England Journal of Medicine (09/07/95) Vol. 333, No. 10, P. 
615;  Drew, W. Lawrence;  Ives, David;  Lalezari, Jacob P. et al.
     Drew et al. assessed the efficacy of oral ganciclovir in a 
randomized trial of AIDS patients with newly diagnosed 
cytomegalovirus (CMV) retinitis for the Syntex Cooperative Oral 
Ganciclovir Study Group.  A total of 123 subjects received 
maintenance therapy with either the oral or the intravenous form 
of the drug.  The patients were then followed for up to 20 weeks.
In the 115 patients for whom efficacy could be evaluated, the 
average time to progression of retinitis was 62 days in the 
intravenous ganciclovir and 57 days in the oral ganciclovir 
group.  However, ophthalmologists' funduscopy determined that the
mean time to disease progression was 96 days for those in the 
intravenous ganciclovir group, compared to 68 days for those 
receiving oral ganciclovir.  The two groups had similar rates of 
survival, changes in vision, incidence of viral shedding, and 
incidence of adverse gastrointestinal problems.  The intravenous 
ganciclovir recipients were more likely to experience such 
difficulties as neutropenia, anemia, and sepsis.  As maintenance 
therapy, the authors conclude, oral ganciclovir is both safe and 
effective for the treatment of CMV retinitis, and is more 
convenient for patients than the drug's intravenous form.
      
"Laying Out the Rules for AIDS Vaccine Trials"
Science (08/25/95) Vol. 269, No. 5227, P. 1037
     The National Institutes of Health's decision to halt large-scale 
testing of two potential AIDS vaccines caused many biotech firms 
to wonder what it would take to re-obtain governmental support of
the expensive efficacy trials.  Now, in a move toward repairing 
the rift, Anthony Fauci--director of the National Institute of 
Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)--has ordered staffers to 
list the criteria that AIDS vaccines must meet before the 
institute will back them.  Fauci hopes that by establishing 
guidelines for each candidate AIDS vaccine, NIAID can make its 
expectations "very, very clear" and thus "get people more 
confident that we are proceeding rather than just floating 
around."  He notes, however, that NIAID should not be blamed for 
delaying Genentech Inc.'s and Biocene Co.'s trials last year 
because when the studies began, there were so many unknowns about
AIDS vaccines in general that setting criteria would have had 
little value.  According to Fauci, the new guidelines should be 
available by the end of the year.
      
"Your Health: AIDS Guidelines"
Industry Week (08/21/95) Vol. 244, No. 15, P. 19
     The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now has a 
toll-free hotline that provides the latest information on 
approved drug treatments and guidelines for HIV-positive 
individuals.  The HIV/AIDS Treatment Information Service has both
English- and Spanish-speaking staff at 800-HIV-0440.
      
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