Washington Blade - July 26, 2002

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) - A $60 million grant will help an Eastern Virginia Medical School program develop contraceptives and products to fight AIDS. The U.S. Agency for International Development gave the money to a program called CONRAD, formerly known as Contraceptive Research & Development, in Arlington. The grant is the largest ever received by EVMS, school officials said. Nearly 60 percent of the money will go toward fighting HIV infection, CONRAD director Henry Gabelnick said. Scientists are working to develop microbicides to give women, particularly those in developing countries, a way to protect themselves even when their partners won't use condoms, Gabelnick said. Microbicides are compounds that kill or inactivate agents that cause sexually transmitted diseases.

Two in Fla. infected with HIV after blood transfusions

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) - The FDA is looking into the procedures of Florida Blood Services, including the handling and testing of blood, after two people became infected with HIV when they received tainted transfusions from the Tampa Bay area's primary blood bank. The Florida Department of Health will determine how the bad blood was transmitted and whether anyone else is at risk. Experts say the chance of getting HIV from donated blood is one in 2 million to 3 million transfusions. "The risk of transmission is very, very low, but it's not zero,'' said Tom Liberti, chief of the bureau of HIV and AIDS for the Department of Health. Florida Blood Services said July 18 that two people were infected with HIV after they received blood transfusions from a donor whose disease went undetected because he or she had been infected only a short time before giving blood. Dr. German Leparc, medical director for Florida Blood Services, declined to identify the people infected. Officials also did not identify the donor, but said the person was not part of a high-risk group that is banned from giving blood.

Court in Calif. upholds medical marijuana law

NEW YORK - In a unanimous decision, the California Supreme Court has reasserted the voter-approved law granting ill patients the right to use marijuana for medical purposes. The California law was challenged by Myron Mower, a Tuolumne County diabetic who was arrested in 1997 for growing 31 marijuana plants in his home. On July 18, Chief Justice Ronald George overturned an appeal court's earlier decision, Reuters Health reported. George wrote that patients who produce a prescription for marijuana should not have to proceed to trial. California voters passed Proposition 215, the Medical Use of Marijuana initiative, in 1996. The law gave patients the right to possess marijuana if it was prescribed for ailments such as glaucoma, AIDS and cancer. Eight other states - Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Maine, Nevada, Oregon, Hawaii and Washington - have since passed similar laws. But a 2001 U.S. Supreme Court ruling found that federal drug laws do not recognize the state initiatives and that medical marijuana users and third-party distributors are still subject to federal prosecution.

Calif. begins coded reporting system for HIV infection

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - California this month joined most of the nation's other states in reporting new cases of HIV infection, an effort officials hope will help identify which demographic groups are suffering most from the virus. California's system differs from the 33 states that track HIV by reporting patients' names. Instead, California's system requires doctors and labs to report the last four digits of the patient's Social Security number, their gender and date of birth. California had been reluctant to track HIV infections because of privacy issues. "I urge everyone who has been avoiding testing for HIV because of privacy concerns to go to their doctor and be tested,'' Gov. Gray Davis said. The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention has set a July 1, 2004, deadline for all states to have an HIV-tracking system. Those that fail likely will see reduced funding based on the lower number of reported AIDS cases.

Fed say GHB okay to use for sleep disorder

A version of the date-rape drug GHB - also popular among gay men at dance clubs - significantly helps a dangerous complication of the sleep disorder narcolepsy, the government ruled in deciding that certain patients now can buy it. Orphan Medical Inc.'s version of GHB, to be sold under the brand name Xyrem, marks the first FDA-approved treatment for cataplexy, a muscle-weakness complication that can cause them to collapse without warning. But the FDA's approval of Xyrem last week came with some of the most severe restrictions ever imposed on a medicine. GHB has been blamed for dozens of overdoses at gay nightclubs and circuit parties, especially when mixed with alcohol. Orphan Medical now will have to balance how to get GHB to patients who need it while at the same time not letting it fall into the wrong hands. "No system, I believe, is foolproof, but there will be very close tabs" kept on every GHB shipment, said Dr. Russell Katz, FDA's neurologic drugs chief.

From staff and wire reports
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