The New York Times - December 20, 1985
Bernard Weinraub

In his first major meeting to discuss Government efforts to deal with the usually fatal disease, Mr. Reagan heard an assessment from Dr. Donald Macdonald, Acting Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services, a White House official said.

At one point, according to an official who attended that meeting, Dr. Macdonald said the Government's research program on acquired immune deficiency syndrome might yield so much information about viruses for scientists and physicians that it might one day be viewed as "the health equivalent of the Manhattan project," which produced the first atomic bomb.

Although Mr. Reagan has received several briefings in recent months about the spread of AIDS, the 30-minute meeting today was his most extensive so far. The briefing, attended by most members of the Cabinet, was conducted by Dr. Macdonald, Dr. William Roper, special assistant to the President for health policy, and Dr. William E. Mayer, Assistant Secretary of Defense for health affairs.

U.S. Victims Put at a Million

At the meeting, Mr. Reagan was told that perhaps one million people in the United States might be infected with the virus but that possibly one in 10 would get it, one official said. No recommendations for new policy and no money requests were made at today's meeting, according to a White House official.

White House officials declined to discuss a report last week in The New York Times that the Administration's draft budget for the fiscal year 1987 would cancel a portion of the 1986 financing on AIDS research, reducing the amount to $190 million from the $238 million that Congress has just appropriated. The budget proposal calls for spending the same amount, $190 million, in 1987.

An official at the meeting said Mr. Reagan asked one question: Where the largest numbers of AIDS cases in the nation were. The response was that they were in New York state, and that since 1981, 5,024 cases of AIDS have been reported in New York City. About 2,500 of those victims are still alive.

Mr. Reagan was also told by the doctors that, according to the latest figures of the Federal Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, a total of 15,581 cases of AIDS have been found in the nation, resulting in 8,002 deaths.

'It's No Slouch Effort'

A White House official who declined to be identified said that the Administration had spent more than $900 million since 1980 on AIDS research. "It's no slouch effort," said the official.

In response to a question at a White House news conference in September, Mr. Reagan said that AIDS research "is a top priority with us." A month earlier, he had spoken by phone with Rock Hudson, who was hospitalized in Paris suffering from AIDS, and later died.

Mr. Reagan also sent a message in September to a Hollywood benefit for AIDS research, saying the Government "will continue to devote additiional funds to the search of a cure for AIDS."

A White House official said that Dr. Roper had reported that the Government was conducting "an unprecedented research effort" into finding a way to counteract AIDS.

Benefits to Viral Research Seen

A White House official said Dr. Macdonald was "very optimistic" about the research being conducted.

Dr. Macdonald told Mr. Reagan that "the research may not only help us find a vaccine for AIDS" but result in medical sponoffs on viral research, the official said, and that scientists "may some day look upon this research as the health equivalent of the Manhattan project."

Shirley Barth, a press officer for the Public Health Service, said Dr. Macdonald would not be available today to discuss his comments.

The Manhattan project was the secret Government effort in World War IT that led to the production of the first atomic bomb. It yielded scientific information that was later used to develop peaceful uses of atomic energy.

851220
NYT851227