Date: Wed, 8 Mar 1995 10:02:38 +0500 From: ghmcleaf{CONTRACTOR/ASPEN/ghmcleaf}%NAC-GATEWAY.ASPEN@ace.aspensys.com AIDS Daily Summary March 8, 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 ************************************************************ "Wellcome Advises Shareholders to Accept $15.15 Billion Takeover Offer From Glaxo" "Gingrich Criticized for Opposing Job Protection for Homosexuals" "State Doctors Group Urges HIV Reporting" "D.C. Health Spending Exceeds Other Cities'" "Skeptics Give 'Miracle Brew' a Closer Look" "Novel Cancer Treatments Highlighted at ..." "The Immune Response Corporation Announces Fourth ..." "AIDS in the Age of Hype" "Adverse Cutaneous Reactions to Trimethoprim-Sulfamethoxazole in Patients with the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome and Pneumocystis Carinii Pneumonia" "AIDS Proposal" ************************************************************ "Wellcome Advises Shareholders to Accept $15.15 Billion Takeover Offer From Glaxo" Wall Street Journal (03/08/95) P. A3; Moore, Stephen D. In a decision that would create the world's largest pharmaceutical company, the directors of Wellcome PLC have advised their shareholders to accept the $15.15 billion takeover offer from Glaxo PLC. The new company--to be called Glaxo Wellcome PLC--would put under the same corporate roof such top-selling drugs as Zantac, Glaxo's ulcer medicine, and Wellcome's Retrovir AIDS drug and Zovirax herpes therapy. The acquisition will help the new combined company cut annual costs by about 10 percent. The cost reductions will bolster earnings growth during a period of patent expirations on key drugs in 1997-1998. Zovirax's U.S. patent expires in 1997. Although the sale is subject to U.S. antitrust approval, Glaxo reaffirmed Tuesday that discussions with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission "are making satisfactory progress and Glaxo is confident" that it will receive regulatory clearance. Related Stories: New York Times (03/08) P. D1; Washington Post (03/08) P. C1; Journal of Commerce (03/08) P. 7B "Gingrich Criticized for Opposing Job Protection for Homosexuals" New York Times (03/08/95) P. A19; Gray, Jerry On Tuesday, House Speaker Newt Gingrich incurred the wrath of advocates for homosexual rights when he said there should be no federal protection for job rights based upon a person's sexual orientation. "His remarks are disingenuous after he appeared yesterday with his sister, Candace, and told the truth about American families," said Elizabeth Birch--the executive director of the Human Rights Campaign Fund, the country's largest gay and lesbian political group. Gingrich urged tolerance for gay men and women on Monday. Candace Gingrich came to Washington, D.C., during the weekend to attend a political meeting sponsored by the Human Rights Campaign Fund, as well as to lobby Congress on Monday to protect AIDS funding and to support laws protecting the rights of homosexuals. Related Story: Washington Post (03/08) P. A17 "State Doctors Group Urges HIV Reporting" Los Angeles Times--Washington Edition (03/08/95) P. B1; Shuit, Douglas P. On Monday, members of the California Medical Association (CMA) voted to ask for state legislation that would require anyone testing HIV-positive to be reported to county health authorities. California law currently requires anyone with full-blown AIDS to be reported, but previous proposals for similar reporting of HIV-infected people have drawn strong opposition. The resolution calls for mandatory reporting of HIV infections by health care providers "for the purpose of partner notification and disease control only." The vote was attacked by Michael Weinstein, director of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation in Los Angeles, who called the decision "a victory for ignorance and phobia." Prior to approving the HIV resolution, the CMA delegates rejected a resolution calling for mandatory HIV testing of pregnant women. "D.C. Health Spending Exceeds Other Cities'" Washington Post (03/08/95) P. A1; Goldstein, Amy Although many of its residents receive inadequate care, the District of Columbia spends far more government money on health services than other large U.S. cities, reported a panel advising Mayor Marion Barry. In 1994, the city spent $852 per person in local aid, compared to $335 per person in Boston, $473 in New York City, and $743 in San Francisco--the city most devastated by the AIDS epidemic in the nation. Warnings about the state of the city's residents' health are not new. Compared with other cities, the District has the nation's highest death rates from cancer and liver disease and the most rapid spread of HIV. The panel blamed the expense and inadequacy of the District's health services on a lack of government planning and coordination of health services. It concluded that a number of city agencies that operate medical services sometimes duplicate their efforts and are poorly managed. "Skeptics Give 'Miracle Brew' a Closer Look" USA Today (03/08/95) P. 1D; Thomas, Karen The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and AIDS educators are studying the Kombucha mushroom tea--the current cure making the rounds. The tea is a fermented home-brew used as a remedy for everything from cancer to AIDS to baldness. Some experts say, however, that the tea could be harmful to people with impaired immune systems. "We've never heard of anything that had this number of inquiries," says Samuel Page of the FDA Natural Products Division. "Its use is very widespread." Page says that Kombucha is not actually a mushroom, but a yeast and bacteria mass. The FDA--which began brewing and testing the tea in January--is concerned about whether it has harmful properties, particularly when brewed under unsterile conditions. Thus far, tests done in sterile labs have found the tea to be relatively harmless because "as the culture is growing, it does become quite acidic, which is beneficial and would inhibit the growth of other organisms," said Page. "Novel Cancer Treatments Highlighted at ..." HealthWire (03/07/95) Researchers and doctors from 10 different countries convened this week at the Fourth International Conference on Bispecific Antibodies and Targeted Cellular Toxicity. The conference was sponsored by E. Merck, Medarex Inc., and Concerted Action for the Commission of the European Committees. Michael W. Fanger of Dartmouth Medical School, conference chair, said, "Over the last few years, we have seen bispecific antibodies advance from being interesting research subjects to being highly promising therapeutic products." He added, "Looking ahead, we should see advanced clinical trial results in cancer and AIDS patients as well as new bispecific approaches and methods for rapidly testing their potential efficacy in patients." "The Immune Response Corporation Announces Fourth ..." PRNewswire (03/07/95) Immune Response Corp. posted a $17,399,000 net loss for the year on Tuesday, up from $15,738,000 last year. The increase was primarily the result of research and development costs related to Immune Response's gene therapy program and an increase in costs for the HIV immunotherapeutic program. Contract research revenue increased to $6,035,000 from $4,768,000 in 1993. However, investment income sank to $2,554,000 from $4,321,000. "AIDS in the Age of Hype" New York Times (03/05/95) P. E1; Alfano, Eric By all appearances, Greg Louganis has thrown off the shackles of his self-imposed exile and been accepted as a former world-class athlete who has AIDS. There has been, however, an undercurrent of cynicism surrounding the diver's disclosure, suggesting that he has not received the amount of support and sympathy from the public that tennis great Arthur Ashe and basketball superstar Magic Johnson received when they revealed they were infected with HIV. Ashe became HIV-infected through a blood transfusion and Johnson contracted the virus through heterosexual intercourse. "But Greg is gay and this is a morality issue for some people," said Sara Pettit, executive director of Out magazine. Although Pettit took issue with the public unease about AIDS and gay athletes, it is hard to avoid how courage and commercialism were intermingled in this case--making it difficult to appreciate one without being cynical about the other. "The publicity blitz seems calculating and somewhat cynical," Time magazine noted. The basis of the cynicism might be the "blood in the water." Louganis has been criticized for not informing the doctor who treated him or Olympic officials that he was HIV-positive after he hit his head during a dive. The one thing Louganis has said he would change is the way in which he handled that situation. "Adverse Cutaneous Reactions to Trimethoprim-Sulfamethoxazole in Patients with the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome and Pneumocystis Carinii Pneumonia" Journal of the American Medical Association (03/01/95) Vol. 273, No. 9, P. 682b In a retrospective study, researchers assessed the value of clinical and laboratory parameters for predicting trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole-induced skin reactions and the effects of continued therapy in AIDS patients. The reasons why AIDS patients are predisposed to cutaneous drug reactions are poorly understood. Of the 38 patients treated with trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, 18 developed cutaneous reactions in an average of 11 days. Such treatment was continued in 19 of the 20 patients who did not develop skin reactions. No clinical or laboratory parameters were found to be predictive of trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole-induced cutaneous reactions. By treating through hypersensitivity, 67 percent of the patients, who otherwise might have had to stop therapy with trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, were able to continue treatment. "AIDS Proposal" Science (02/17/95) Vol. 267, No. 5200, P. 945; Baumann, Eleen; Bethell, Tom; Bialy, Harvey et al. In 1991, the Group for the Scientific Reappraisal of the HIV/AIDS Hypothesis became displeased with the state of the evidence that HIV was the cause of AIDS, write Baumann et al.--the group's members--in a letter to the journal Science. The group suggests that researchers independent of the HIV establishment should audit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's records of AIDS cases, keeping in mind that the correlation of HIV with AIDS--upon which the case for HIV causation rests--is itself an artifact of the definition of AIDS. The group also wants independent researchers to investigate the validity of the so-called "AIDS tests," particularly when the tests are used in Africa and Southern Asia, to see if they reliably record the presence of antibodies, as well as live and replicating virus.