A.I.D.S. patient succumbs

Press, 13 November 1985, Page 8

A.I.D.S. patient succumbs

NZPA-AFP Paris A patient being treated at a Paris hospital with a drug heralded as a? breakthrough in the fight against A.I.D.S. has died. Professor Philippe Even, one of the three doctors from Laennec Hospital, where tests were being done with the drug cyclosporineA — normally used to prevent the rejection of transplant organs — did not say when the patient had died.

The patient “had initially suffered from two serious cerebral and pulmonary infections” and despite an encouraging biological

response he had died of a “medullary aplasia” and liver complications linked with a viral infection and rejection of treatment. He said that the patient’s rejection of treatment was unconnected with the cyclosporine.

Professor Even and two colleagues at Laennec Hospital, Jean-Marie Andrieu and Alain Venet — announced last month that tests on six patients had produced “biologically extraordinary” results. But the international medical establishment reacted with scepticism to their assertions, which were said to be premature.