The Wall Street Journal - 19 Jun 1992
Marilyn Chase, Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

In a survey of nearly 10,000 patients, women had a median survival of 11.1 months, while men lived 14.6 months, after being diagnosed as having acquired immune deficiency syndrome. However, when the female patients were being treated on the antiviral drugs AZT or DDI, there was no difference in survival.

The finding of a survival "gender gap" seems sure to intensify calls to correct alleged underrepresentation of women in AIDS drug trials. It also highlights a controversy over definition of the syndrome in women, who suffer a range of AIDS symptoms distinct from men.

"Access for both men and women to HIV {human immunodeficiency virus} testing and counseling, and early monitoring and medical intervention, is needed to help bridge the gender gap in survival after a diagnosis of AIDS," concluded the report by George F. Lemp and Sandra Hernandez and their colleagues in the San Francisco Department of Public Health. The report appears in today's issue of the Journal of Infectious Diseases.

AZT, made by Wellcome PLC of London, was the first antiviral agent to receive marketing approval, in 1987. DDI, made by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., New York, was cleared last fall. Regulators are expected to clear a third antiviral drug, DDC made by Hoffmann-La Roche, for use in combination with AZT. Hoffmann-La Roche is a unit of Roche Holding Ltd. of Switzerland.

Separately, a team of French and U.S. vaccine researchers reported clearing a new and important hurdle in animal trials of candidate AIDS vaccines.

HIV may infect its victims either in a free-floating virus form or when sequestered like a Trojan horse inside an infected human blood cell. So far, most studies involving chimpanzees have exposed the animals only to the free-floating virus. However, researchers have long recognized the need to expose test animals to infected cells as more of a "real world test."

Now, in a new report, three vaccinated test chimps remained healthy and virus-free after exposure to infected cells, while a control animal injected with the infected cells became infected.

Marc Girard of the Pasteur Institute in Paris and Patricia Fultz of the University of Alabama at Birmingham and their colleagues reported their findings in the current issue of the journal Science. The work was done in collaboration with researchers at the National Cancer Institute, Duke University, New York University and Transgene S.A. of Strasbourg, France.

The researchers cautioned that protection of the chimps was achieved only after repeated immunizations over a two-year period, which they acknowledged to be an impractical regimen for human use.

920619
WJ920602

Copyright © 1992 - The Wall Street Journal. Reproduction of this article (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the WSJ Permissions Desk.

Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 1992. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.

AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is often presented in summary or aggregate form. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.

Copyright ©1980, 1992. AEGiS. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content. .