DATE: Saturday, March 15, 1997              TAG: 9703150389

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A7   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: WASHINGTON                        LENGTH:   27 lines

FDA APPROVES FIRST PEDIATRIC AIDS DRUG

AIDS-infected children got their first drugs from the powerful class of protease inhibitors Friday when the government approved two pediatric formulas.

Agouron Pharmaceuticals' Viracept is the first protease inhibitor to get simultaneous approval for sales to both adults and children. Taken with two older medicines, it can cut by about 98 percent the amount of AIDS virus in adult patients' blood.

The Food and Drug Administration approved Viracept, known chemically as nelfinavir, for use in children 2 and older, although the company cannot yet say how effective it is for them. That research is under way, but the FDA approves pediatric drugs if they are safe and early testing indicates they will work similarly in children and adults.

Also Friday, the FDA approved a year-old adult protease inhibitor for children's use, Abbott Laboratories' Norvir. MEMO: For more information, call Agouron at 1-888-847-2237. KEYWORDS: AIDS

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