Date: Fri, 25 Oct 1996 10:03:04 -0400 From: "Flynn Mclean" Subject: CDC AIDS Daily Summary 10/25/96 AIDS Daily Summary October 25, 1996 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 National AIDS Clearinghouse, or any other organization. Reproduction of this text is encouraged; however, copies may not be sold, and the CDC National AIDS Clearinghouse should be cited as the source of this information. Copyright 1996, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD ****************************************************** "Drug Makers' AIDS Offer Gains Support" "China Concedes Blood Product Contained AIDS Virus" "CDC Issues Warning About Anti-AIDS Drugs 'Cocktail'" "Judge Rejects Appeal By Johnson & Johnson on an AIDS Test Kit" "Abreast of the Market: Agouron Pharmaceuticals, Baxter International" "Don't Underestimate Infectious Diseases" "Fanfare: Boxing" "Addicts Account for New HIV Surge in Russia" "A Multi-Institutional Outbreak of Highly Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis" "Danish Court Awards Hemophiliac" ****************************************************** "Drug Makers' AIDS Offer Gains Support" New York Times (10/25/96) P. D7 More than 90 percent of the hemophiliacs who contracted HIV through tainted blood products have accepted a $640 million settlement offered by the pharmaceutical companies involved. Under the agreement, each person would receive about $100,000. The companies must decide by Nov. 22 if they will agree to the deal and face potential lawsuits from many of the remaining claimants. The settlement was offered in May by Bayer A.G., Baxter International, Rhone-Poulenc Rorer, and the Alpha Therapeutic Corp. "China Concedes Blood Product Contained AIDS Virus" New York Times (10/25/96) P. A3; Tyler, Patrick E. Two years after initial reports by journalists claimed that a common blood product made by a Chinese military-run factory was infected with HIV, China's Foreign Ministry said Thursday that some samples of the product have tested positive for the virus. Earlier this year, China's Ministry of Public Health ordered state-run medical facilities to stop using a certain brand of serum albumin without giving a reason. Chinese officials have not identified the scope of the contamination and the public health threat, but report about eight tainted lots of the product indicate that as many as 10,000 vials are unaccounted for. The incident is the first acknowledgment by China of a medical crisis related to HIV contamination and the possibility of negligent handling of blood products. It also sheds light on weaknesses in China's blood system, in which much donated blood is not screened for HIV and incidents of contamination are overlooked. "CDC Issues Warning About Anti-AIDS Drugs 'Cocktail'" Reuters (10/24/96); Morgan, David Officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned physicians on Thursday that protease inhibitors, used in a new "cocktail" of anti-AIDS drugs, are ineffective when given with rifamycin derivatives, which are used to treat mycobacterial infections such as tuberculosis. "Rifamycins accelerate the metabolism of protease inhibitors, resulting in subtherapeutic levels of the protease inhibitors," CDC officials noted in a weekly report on health issues. "In addition, protease inhibitors retard the metabolism of rifamycins, resulting in increased serum levels of rifamycins and the likelihood of drug toxicity." The federal agency recommends that protease inhibitors--which include Abbott Laboratories' Norvir (ritonavir), Hoffmann-La Roche's Invirase (saquinavir), Merck's Crixivan (indinavir), and Agouron Pharmaceuticals' Viracept (nelfinavir)--be withheld from patients receiving treatment for tuberculosis, although the CDC also suggests it would be possible to use both the protease inhibitors and rifamycins, such as rifabutin and rifampin, if doses can be modified to compensate for drug interaction. "Judge Rejects Appeal By Johnson & Johnson on an AIDS Test Kit" Wall Street Journal (10/25/96) P. B2 Johnson & Johnson's appeal of an arbitrator's order to turn over rights to its HIV home test kit to former executive Elliott Millenson was rejected Thursday by a New Jersey judge. Millenson, who developed the test kit independently in the late 1980s and sold it to Johnson & Johnson, was hired by the company to head the division that makes the kit. However, he was fired from the company in 1995 for reasons related to questionable political donations. An arbitrator sided with Millenson in July and ordered the company to relinquish the test-kit business to him. On appeal, Judge Wilfred Diana of New Jersey Superior Court said the arbitrator's decision was both "plausible" and "reasonable." "Abreast of the Market: Agouron Pharmaceuticals, Baxter International" Wall Street Journal (10/25/96) P. C2; O'Brien, Robert Shares of Agouron Pharmaceuticals rose 4.5 to 54.25 in Thursday's stock market trading after the drug firm announced it would file for FDA marketing approval of its HIV protease inhibitor Viracept. Shares of Baxter International, meanwhile, fell 2.25 to 40.75 after Merrill Lynch downgraded its stock. Baxter earlier reported third-quarter earnings that narrowly exceeded analysts' expectations. "Don't Underestimate Infectious Diseases" Washington Post (10/25/96) P. A24; Black, Robert E.; Simon, Jonathon Infectious diseases are a serious health threat and demand both attention and resources, contend Robert E. Black of Johns Hopkins Medical School, and Jonathon Simon of the Harvard Institute for International Development, in a letter to the editor of the Washington Post. Specifically, the authors take issue with a Post article which reported that infectious diseases would not be a serious health threat in the next century. They claim the article "overemphasized the problems of noncommunicable diseases in the future at the expense of the present global burden of infectious diseases." Black and Simon urge that resources for child health and development be committed to infectious diseases before they are redirected to the future threat of noncommunicable diseases. "Fanfare: Boxing" Washington Post (10/25/96) P. C2 Heavyweight Tommy Morrison, who tested positive for HIV in February, announced that he would fight in Tokyo on Nov. 3 on the undercard of the George Foreman-Crawford Grimsley fight. Morrison will likely face Anthony Cooks. According to a provision in his contract, the fight will end if Morrison suffers any heavy bleeding. "Addicts Account for New HIV Surge in Russia" Itar Wire Service (10/25/96) Although HIV first appeared in Russia in a small segment of the homosexual population, the virus is now increasingly infecting drug addicts, a health official says. Alexander Golimusov, Health Ministry senior infection expert, notes that while only three cases of HIV infection were identified in drug addicts in January, the number has subsequently reached 500. Russia now has 1,786 diagnosed cases of HIV infection and 238 AIDS patients. Golimusov claims that the addict-trend of HIV infection in Russia is similar to that seen in the United States one decade ago. "A Multi-Institutional Outbreak of Highly Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis" Journal of the American Medical Association (10/15/96) Vol. 276, No. 15, P. 1229; Frieden, Thomas R.; Sherman, Lisa Fine; Maw, Khin Lay; et al. The emergence of drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) in the United States is a serious health threat, and multidrug-resistant strains are particularly difficult to treat and often deadly. Several outbreaks of multidrug-resistant TB have involved one strain, labeled strain W, and have occurred in hospitals and prisons, usually involving HIV-infected patients and health care workers. Dr. Thomas R. Frieden and colleagues at the New York City Department of Health conducted an analysis of every TB case in New York City between 1990 and August 1993, focusing on the prevalence of strain W, the likely location of transmission, and the clinical outcome of each case. Strain W was identified in 267 patients, 86 percent of whom were HIV-positive. Twenty patients were health care workers, and 15 of them were associated with institutions where nosocomial transmission of strain W was confirmed. Patients in New York City infected with this strain of TB accounted for nearly one-fourth of all U.S. patients with multidrug-resistant TB during the study period. The authors concluded that even patients with severely damaged immune systems can benefit from proper treatment, noting that faster diagnostic technology is needed. "Danish Court Awards Hemophiliac" Lancet (10/12/96) Vol. 348, No. 9033, P. 1024; Skovmand, Kaare The Danish health authorities must pay a Danish hemophiliac with HIV some $42,000, the country's Supreme Court decided in a surprising verdict. The patient contracted HIV in 1985 via an imported blood product that had not been heat-treated. The court ruled that the health authorities should have warned the doctors not to use the untreated blood product. The court also termed "a clear mistake" authorities' rejection in 1985 of a proposal for the use of a virus-inactivated, heat-treated imported blood product.