New drug blocks A.I.D.S. symptoms

Press, 12 January 1987, Page 6

New drug blocks A.I.D.S. symptoms

by

IRWIN ARIEFF

of

•Reuters (through NZPA) ’"T Washington Medical experts are hailing, as a major breakthrough a disclosure that a new United States drug appears to block the progression of AJ.D.S. in indMduals showing early signs of the disease. “If what they say holds up) statistically, this is really good news for people who have been exposed to the disease ana are worried about getting a full-scale case of A.1.D.5.,” said Mr Martin Delaney, co-founder of Project Inform, a San Francisco-based organisation that has been track-

ing A-I.D.S. research for the last three years. "It’s very exciting because it gives us another active handle on this disease,” said Dr Thomas Merigan, director of A.I.D.S. research at the Stanford University Medical Centre? Thd statements came as a- California drug company announced that one of its products, the antiviral agent Ribavirin, had been found in clinical trials to block the development of A.I.D.S. (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) in a group of individuals showing one of the most common early symptoms of the disease.

Officials of I.C.N. Pharmaceuticals, Inc., of Costa Mesa, said the finding was based on clinical trials on 163 patients with Lymphadenopathy Syndrome (L.A.S.), a condition of swollen lymph nodes that often precedes the development of AJ.D.S. - The officials said that of 52 patients with L.A.S. given 800 milligrams of Ribavirin a day, none developed A.I.D.S. Company officials said an independent safety committee monitoring the trials had found the. drug to be “well tolerated and without Significant side effects.” Officials said I.C.N. planned to seek approval from the Government within the next two weeks to distribute Ribavirin at no cost to people with L.A.S. while the drug undergoes further testing and evaluation.