Infant AIDS Prevention Study Finally Gets Going

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1993. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Infant AIDS Prevention Study Finally Gets Going

Journal of American Medical Association (10/20/93) Vol. 270, No. 15, P. 1785 (Cotton, Paul)

After a year-long delay, HIV immunoglobulin (HIVIG), which may prevent the transmission of the AIDS virus from pregnant mothers to their infants, will finally be tested in a clinical trial. Researchers hope that HIVIG, which contains antibodies to HIV, will work much in the same way as do similar products with antibodies that prevent mother-to-child transmission of hepatitis B or cytomegalovirus. The trial, initially scheduled for July 1992, was delayed when HIVIG supplier Abbott Laboratories backed out in fear of legal liability should the product increase the risk of infecting infants. Many claim that fear is unfounded because, although the product is made from patients who are HIV-positive, rigorous measures are taken to inactivate the virus. A new manufacturer is now supplying HIVIG for the trial, which is being sponsored by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). Recruitment, however, must start over because the women who were to enter the trial in 1992 have since given birth, said Elaine M. Sloand, assistant to the director of NHLBI.

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