U.S. TO TEST AIDS DRUG ON HUMANS

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 24, 1993                   TAG: 9303240052
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short
U.S. TO TEST AIDS DRUG ON HUMANS
A drug that has been shown in test-tube experiments to be a potent killer of the AIDS virus will be tested in human patients at the National Institutes of Health, officials announced.
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, the NIH agency that is leading the federal campaign against AIDS, said it will enroll up to 80 patients infected with the AIDS virus in clinical trials of a drug called U-90,152.
Officials said U-90,152 has been shown it can sterilize cell cultures that have been infected with the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, which causes AIDS. Studies also have shown that the action of the new drug in stopping HIV is different from the AIDS drugs now licensed.
"Toxicity and the fact that the virus can mutate and become resistant to these drugs within six to 12 months limit their usefulness as single-drug therapies," said Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the NIH agency.
Officials said using U-90,152 in combination with one of the other drugs would be more effective than any of the drugs alone.
- Associated Press

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB