Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 15, 1995 TAG: 9507170065
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BETHESDA, MD. LENGTH: Medium
``This is wonderful,'' said Kim Getty, as she raced to telephone the news to her brother Jeff at his San Francisco home.
Scientific advisers to the Food and Drug Administration weren't so optimistic. They warned that the experiment not only will likely kill Getty but must be carefully controlled to ensure that diseases the baboons carry don't spread to humans.
``This probably will hasten his death, not prevent it,'' said Dr. Hugh Auchincloss Jr. of Massachusetts General Hospital.
But if Getty, who is 38, accepts the risks and the doctors follow strict precautions, the panel said, the operation should go forward to prove whether baboons, who don't get AIDS, hold a key to fighting the fatal disease.
The FDA usually follows advisory committee recommendations. Officials indicated a decision could be made in several weeks.
``This is a unique opportunity to actually study the risks'' of cross-species transplants, or xenotransplantation, said FDA biologics chief Dr. Philip Noguchi.
Baboons do not get HIV-1, the type of AIDS virus most prevalent in the United States. Dr. Suzanne Ildstad of the University of Pittsburgh plans to inject baboon bone marrow into Getty.
AIDS destroys blood cells, particularly immune cells. Bone marrow manufactures new blood cells. The theory is that the transplant could resupply Getty's bloodstream with HIV-resistant blood cells.
It is usually impossible to transplant bone marrow between genetically dissimilar people, much less different species. This experiment was tried once before and failed. Ildstad thinks she will succeed because she has discovered ``facilitating cells'' that appear to prevent the body from destroying transplanted marrow.
She was ready to go in April when the FDA told her federal law required prior government clearance for an experiment that could be dangerous to the patient or the public. Thirty days ago, she filed the proper application.
Getty's family and AIDS activists attacked the FDA Friday for the delay. ``Don't take this hope away from him,'' pleaded his mother, Susan Getty. ``Unless you do something now, he will be dead.''
by CNB