Faculty Bibliography

BETHESDA, Md. -- To help speed development of an AIDS vaccine, federal health officials have released a blueprint for encouraging greater cooperation between industry and the government. The number of companies involved in developing an AIDS vaccine has declined in recent years, in part because industry leaders believe that government officials have tended to arbitrarily change their minds in deciding whether to move vaccine experiments from one stage of testing to the next. 1 The blueprint will detail specific scientific guideposts that must be met to propel a vaccine along the licensing path. The criteria will be different for each type of experimental HIV vaccine, Dr. Anthony S, Fauci, who heads the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in releasing the document

Steven A. Rosenberg, chief surgeon and a leading investigator at the National Cancer Institute, said the week of Feb 4, 1996 that the trend toward secrecy among researchers is impairing progress in cancer research and other fields

'The results suggest that this is not working in [Jeff Getty],' Dr. [Steven Deeks] said, adding: 'Jeff's good health cannot be explained by the baboon cells.'

But the doctors said in interviews that they were puzzled why the patient, Jeff Getty, had done so well since the highly risky experiment was carried out in San Francisco. Getty has gained several pounds, his asthma and a severe case of a skin condition known as seborrhea have cleared up, his immune cells have increased slightly and tests done so far show that he has not developed any infections, said Dr. Steven Deeks, Getty's doctor at San Francisco General Hospital. He said the team intended to report its findings in a scientific journal and would not have discussed them now except that Getty was doing so well that many AIDS patients and others believed his condition was a result of the cross-species transplant. Deeks said he and Project Inform, an advocacy group for AIDS patients that paid for much of the experiment's cost, felt obligated to dispel any false hopes. The researchers involved in the baboon transplant said they regarded the experiment as a success, despite the apparent failure of the transplant to work. A major goal of the experiment was to determine the safety of the radiation and drug therapy used to prepare Getty for the cross-species transplant. The scientists now believe that the preparatory therapy may have been too little

Preliminary tests show that few, if any, baboon bone marrow cells have grown and functioned after being transplanted into 38-year-old Jeff Getty, an AIDS patient. But the doctors said in interviews they were puzzled why Getty had been doing so well since the highly risky experiment was carried out in Dec 1995 in San Francisco. Getty has gained several pounds, his asthma and seborrhea, a skin condition, have cleared up and his immune cells have increased slightly

Preliminary tests show that few, if any, baboon bone marrow cells have grown and functioned after being transplanted into an AIDS patient, his doctors said on Thursday. But the doctors said in interviews that they were puzzled why the patient, Jeff Getty, 38, had done so well since the highly risky experiment was done in December. Getty has gained several pounds, his asthma and a skin condition have cleared up, his immune cells have increased slightly and tests done so far show that he has not developed any infections, said Dr. Steven Deeks, his doctor at San Francisco General Hospital

Shortly after AIDS was first recognized in 1981, activists demanded: Give us new therapies. Now the latest concern from activists and others worried about the costs of health care is: Who can afford them? A five-day meeting on HIV and related viruses in Washington, D.C., last week made it clear that the treatment of AIDS is entering a new phase, much more complex, perhaps more effective and certainly more costly. Private health insurance plans will cover the drug costs for some AIDS patients. Medicaid covers the costs for many others, although the number of individual drugs covered each month may be restricted. For others, the drug costs may be covered by the drug assistance program under the Ryan White Act, the federal program for treatment of AIDS patients. And many others may have to pay out of pocket if they can

The latest development is a class of drugs known as protease inhibitors. Short-term studies show the combination of these new drugs with standard older ones is the most potent therapy against H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS. As Dr. David Cooper, a leading AIDS researcher from Sydney, Australia, put it, the new phase involves 'the ascendancy of combination therapy' and 'the demise' of single-drug therapy for H.I.V. 'Because of the patient advocacy for AIDS, there will be a lot of pressure to make the standard of care a very expensive one,' Dr. Jaffe said in an interview. 'It won't just be individuals asking questions. It will be organized community groups pushing for this higher standard.' After the meeting, the AIDS Action Council in Washington, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation in Los Angeles, and a group of 20 leading non-government AIDS researchers and clinicians warned that the costs of the new therapies might make them unaffordable for the vast majority of Americans infected with H.I.V.

Shortly after AIDS was first recognized in 1981, activists demanded: Give us new therapies. Now the latest concern from activists and many others concerned about the cost of health care is: Who can afford them? A five-day meeting on HIV and related viruses last week made it clear that the treatment of AIDS is entering a new phase, much more complex, perhaps more effective, and certainly more costly. The latest development is a class of drugs known as protease inhibitors. Short-term studies show the combination of these new drugs with standard older ones are the most potent therapy against HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. As Dr. David Cooper, a leading AIDS researcher from Sydney, Australia, put it, the new phase involves 'the ascendancy of combination therapy' and 'the demise' of single-drug therapy for HIV

WASHINGTON - By coating a heart device with an anti-clotting drug, European cardiologists have greatly improved success in keeping coronary arteries open after an obstruction has been removed. The method was also found to greatly reduce the major complications that have plagued the device. The device, known as a stent, is a modification of one now marketed in this country. But the Food and Drug Administration said it needed additional data before it could approve the new stent. The new stent is coated with heparin, a natural and standard anti-clotting drug. The stent eliminates the need for a patient to take injections of heparin or similar anti-clotting drugs. Such drugs have been needed to prevent formation of blood clots that block the artery at the site of the cleared obstruction