Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1995. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1995. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Reuters NewMedia, Inc. - 10 Oct 1995
The Health Ministry announced the new policy in a statement issued following publication of a study which concluded that a cocktail of two drugs was more effective against the deadly disease than AZT on its own, the current standard therapy.
"Right now the services of the ministry are taking all the steps necessary for bi-therapy prescriptions to be honored in hospitals," the Health Ministry said in a statement.
A report on the so-called "Delta" trial, an investigation by medical research agencies in seven European countries plus Australia and New Zealand, said last month that drug mixtures were better than single medicines in controlling the disease.
Patients who took two drugs together -- Glaxo-Wellcome's AZT with Bristol-Myers Squibb Co's DDI, or AZT with DDC, made by Roche Holding AG-- had a death rate 38 percent lower over two years than those taking AZT alone.
Evidence from earlier less comprehensive trials had hinted at such a result and researchers are now evaluating more aspects of the "Delta" trial.
The use of more than one drug significantly increases the cost of treating patients with HIV, a virus which slowly attacks the body's immune system until it succumbs to opportunistic infections.
Some 200,000 people are infected with the HIV virus in France, making it the hardest-hit country in Europe.
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