Date: Tue, 25 Jul 1995 09:41:44 +0500 From: ghmcleaf{CONTRACTOR/ASPEN/ghmcleaf}%NAC-GATEWAY.ASPEN@ace.aspensys.com AIDS Daily Summary July 25, 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 ************************************************************ "'Miracle Cure' Deal Trips Up Vesco" "Across the USA: West Virginia" "The Search Goes On" "Safe Blood Units Refused, Documents Show" "In the Rush Toward Gene Therapy, Some See a High Risk of Failure" "Eye on the Needle" "UBI Expands Testing of Peptide Immunotherapy for HIV Disease" "Perinatal HIV and Ethical Conflict" "The Prevalence of Patient Disclosure of HIV Infection to Doctors" "Returning Emigres Add New Luster to AIDS Research" ************************************************************ "'Miracle Cure' Deal Trips Up Vesco" Washington Post (07/25/95) P. A9; Farah, Douglas According to business partners and confidential State Department cables, fugitive financier Robert Vesco tried to develop a citronella plant-based drug called TX, which has been said to cure diseases ranging from the common cold to AIDS. Vesco, who was arrested in Cuba on May 31, appears to have made a mistake when, sources say, he tried to cut his protectors in the Cuban government out of his multimillion-dollar plan to market the wonder drug. "Vesco got greedy," said Enrico Garzaroli, the Italian businessman who invested over $1 million in the development and marketing of TX. Garzaroli blew the whistle on Vesco after learning that Vesco was working behind the Cuban government's back and using Cuban facilities to work on TX without proper authorization. The Cuban government, however, will say only that Vesco has been arrested for "suspicion of being a provacateur and agent of foreign special services. "Across the USA: West Virginia" USA Today (07/25/95) P. 6A Tim Snodgrass has been fired for refusing to deliver mail to a couple with AIDS. The postal worker was suspended last month after withholding Fred and Pat Grounds' mail. Snodgrass said he was afraid of cutting himself on the metal mail slot and becoming infected with HIV from handling envelopes and stamps the Grounds might have licked. Related Story: New York Times (07/25) P. A10 "The Search Goes On" Financial Times (07/25/95) P. 8; Cookson, Clive Although several experimental vaccines are being tested, there is little prospect of an HIV vaccine proving its safety and efficacy in large-scale trials in time to impact the AIDS epidemic before the turn of the century, writes Clive Cookson in the Financial Times. Vaccines protect against infection by preparing the immune system to recognize a particular virus or bacterium, and then release antibodies and T cells to kill them. HIV, however, is an extremely difficult target because of the many devices and disguises it uses. For example, HIV is more variable and mutates more rapidly than any other known virus. The virus also remains invisible for long periods, hiding within the cell nucleus. Despite these problems, a large number of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies continue to design HIV vaccines. SmithKline Beecham, for instance, is now testing a genetically engineered vaccine based on an HIV "envelope protein" called gp120. The realistic opinion among AIDS researchers, Cookson concludes, is that the first effective vaccine against HIV will not be in mass production until at least 2005. "Safe Blood Units Refused, Documents Show" Toronto Globe and Mail (07/24/95) P. A3; Picard, Andre The Canadian Red Cross was offered a heat-treated blood product for hemophiliacs in late 1983, but refused it because it cost pennies more per unit, say documents filed at a public inquiry. The agency rejected the product again in early 1984, 18 months before it was made available to hemophiliacs in Canada. In the meantime, officials at the Red Cross played down the benefits of the safer concentrate. One senior official even ordered a supplier not to include a warning that the concentrate that was not heat-treated could carry HIV. The Commission of Inquiry on the Blood System is investigating the events which left more than 1,000 people infected with HIV and thousands more with hepatitis C. Consumer groups, including the Canadian Hemophilia Society, claim that although the disaster was not completely preventable, systemic inaction on the part of the Red Cross and other officials significantly exacerbated the extent of inaction. "In the Rush Toward Gene Therapy, Some See a High Risk of Failure" New York Times (07/25/95) P. C3; Kolata, Gina Despite the recent explosion of gene therapy experiments, there has not been a single report of a patient who has been helped by gene therapy, and the number of technical questions has multiplied. Several leading scientists, including the director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), have voiced concerns that the field is rushing too quickly from the laboratory. Critics fear a public backlash and crash of the gene therapy industry if the studies prove inconclusive and if some patients are harmed in the process. Researchers hope to use gene therapy, which involves inserting corrective genes into patients' cells, to cure such diseases as cystic fibrosis. They also hope to insert these genes into HIV-infected cells and cancer cells. "Eye on the Needle" Boston Globe (07/24/95) P. 13; Ferdinand, Pamela Results of a new analysis of Project-A-HOPE (Addict Health Opportunities Program Exchange) in Massachusetts show that the program appears to be successful. The needle exchange has reduced needle sharing, and possibly HIV transmission, without increasing drug use or crime. Although opponents were concerned that needle-exchange programs would produce new addicts by providing clean needles, the state-funded study indicates that most clients are longtime drug abusers. The program's clients are primarily white men. Most have homes and many drive Saabs and Lexuses to the needle-exchange sites. Approximately one-third of the clients are African-American and just under 10 percent are Latino, statistics show. Last month, state legislators expanded the program from Boston and Cambridge by offering it to eight other communities, though some oppose the plan. Project-A-HOPE is run by Boston's Department of Health and Hospitals, ACT-UP Boston, Concilio Hispano, and Cambridge Cares About AIDS. "UBI Expands Testing of Peptide Immunotherapy for HIV Disease" Business Wire (07/24/95) United Biomedical Inc. has expanded its clinical trials of a peptide immunotherapy for the treatment of HIV. The product is designed to slow AIDS progression by stimulating cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs), which are responsible for recognizing and killing HIV. The expanded Phase I clinical trial will determine the levels of HIV-specific CTL responses produced by the treatment, and monitor its therapeutic effect on various disease markers, such as viral load. "Perinatal HIV and Ethical Conflict" Focus (06/95) Vol. 10, No. 7, P. 8 The perinatal and pediatric HIV epidemic is escalating in a global environment of ethical conflict, reports an essay that surveys the range of these conflicts. The pandemic must deal with limited resources and the competing priorities of personal rights and public welfare. "Ethical Issues in Perinatal HIV," published in Clinics in Perinatology, studies the ethical problems that arise when the health care entitlements of children are contrasted against those of their mothers. These issues include whether to continue pregnancy, HIV antibody screening for children, maintaining patient confidentiality, and the mother's role as surrogate decision-maker for her child. "The Prevalence of Patient Disclosure of HIV Infection to Doctors" American Journal of Public Health (07/95) Vol. 85, No. 7, P. 1018; Marks, Gary; Mason, Hyacinth R.C.; Simoni, Jane M. To determine the prevalence and correlates of men's disclosure of HIV infection to physicians and dentists who were not treating their HIV disease, researchers studied more than 630 HIV-seropositive men at two HIV outpatient clinics in Los Angeles. Self-administered questionnaires revealed that 54 percent had seen a doctor or dentist who was not treating their infection. Twenty-one percent of these men did not inform the physician of their serostatus. Almost 30 percent of the non-disclosers believed that they would be refused treatment if they were discovered to be HIV-positive. More than 10 percent of the men who had informed at least one doctor or dentist reported that at least one of the providers had refused to treat them. The results reinforce the importance of universal health care precautions for health care personnel when treating all patients. They also indicate, according to the authors, that some HIV-infected persons who inform medical providers of their infection may jeopardize their access to health care. "Returning Emigres Add New Luster to AIDS Research" Science (07/07/95) Vol. 269, No. 5220, P. 24; Balter, Michael A growing number of Italian AIDS researchers are returning to their roots. For example, Guido Poli and his wife Elisa Vicenzi had both spent several years working on AIDS at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). But in 1993, the couple returned to Italy to work at Milan's San Raffaele biomedical complex in a state-of-the-art AIDS research facility that Poli helped design. As chief of San Raffaele's Department of Biological and Technical Research (DIBIT)'s Immunopathogenesis Unit, Poli will be joined by Paolo Lusso, who recently returned to Italy after spending eight years in Robert Gallo's NIH lab. "The NIH is a real incubator of Italian scientists," commented Alberto Beretta, head of DIBIT's new Immunobiology of HIV Unit and the only one of the three team leaders who did not train at NIH. The majority of DIBIT's returning AIDS researchers did their postdoctoral studies in the United States as part of NIH's John E. Fogarty scientist exchange program. Their return to their homeland could make Italy a force to be reckoned with in AIDS research.