In May, the United Nations and five major pharmaceutical companies announced an unprecedented proposal to slash the prices of new HIV drugs in the Third World. Unicef, alone among the five U.N. organizations involved in the discussions, didn t issue a press release. That was no oversight. In an interview, Unicef execut
KAMPALA, Uganda -- When Busingye Scovia, who is infected with the AIDS virus, delivered a healthy baby girl last year, she was warned by hospital staff that breast-feeding could infect her newborn. But no one at the hospital told her about an alternative: infant formula. As is true all over the developing world, hospit
WASHINGTON -- Despite years of close government scrutiny, errors and procedural lapses at the American Red Cross continue to leave the nation s blood supply open to safety problems, the Food and Drug Administration said. FDA inspectors who visited Red Cross headquarters in April found violations of manufacturing standa
After nine months of often tense negotiations, South Africa s ministry of health and Pfizer Inc. agreed on a plan in which the New York drug maker will donate $50 million of its drug, Diflucan, for treating people with two severe types of AIDS-related infections. Last March Pfizer offered to give away a certain amount
In the midst of the wrenching international debate over how to get expensive HIV drugs into Africa, pharmaceutical giant Glaxo Wellcome PLC has set off a new controversy by trying to block access to less-costly generic versions of its top-selling AIDS medicine. In letters to a drug distributor in
After months of protracted negotiations, drug giant Pfizer Inc. is expected to announce Friday that it will give away a $50 million two-year supply of its expensive AIDS-related medicine, Diflucan, to the South African government. The announcement comes at the same time that the United Nations and
On Dec. 1, 1998, on World AIDS Day, the Viacom Inc.-owned MTV Networks International aired an HIV-education program, Staying Alive, that reached a world-wide audience of 275 million households. The program aired only on MTV, the cable channel popular with the critical 16-to-34 age group. For this Friday s 13th annual W
A drug company sponsors clinical research on one of its products. When the results turn unfavorable, what does it do? Try to suppress publication of the results, at least in the case of Immune Response Corp., a Carlsbad, Calif., biotechnology company. In a situation raising questions about the ownership of medical rese
Scientists said they have used a computer model to identify patterns of mutations in the genetic code of the HIV virus that make it resistant to the AIDS drug stavudine, a finding that could help doctors better tailor drug treatments for infected patients. The finding will be presented today by Virco, a closely held Be
Mark Schoofs and Michael Waldholz, Staff Reporters
Six months after five major pharmaceutical companies and the Joint United Nations Programme on AIDS made world-wide headlines by declaring their intention to make HIV drugs more affordable to poor countries, the first actual price-cut agreement has been struck with Senegal . The government of the West African nation la
By giving a vaccine developed by Merck & Co. an extra boost, Harvard University scientists have prevented laboratory monkeys from getting sick when exposed to a virulent strain of the AIDS virus. Scientists are heralding the research, published Friday in the journal Science, as an important advance in the protracte
An AIDS study published Thursday in the journal Nature offers promise for newly infected patients. But what can be done for the estimated 34 million people who have been living with HIV for months or years? The approach of the new study, which aims to train patients immune systems to fight HIV without drugs, looks like
Bruce Walker was a young doctor at Massachusetts General Hospital in the early 1980s when the first patients arrived with what was then a baffling new disease. I ve taken care of patients who ve had a lot of false hopes along the way, he says. I don t want to contribute to that. But as Dr. Walker, who now also works as
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- As a national general strike begins, Zimbabwe s President Robert Mugabe faces a painful choice. Having led his party to victory in June s elections on the back of promises to redistribute white-owned farms to landless blacks and veterans of the country s war of independence, Mr. Mugabe is
ATLANTA -- People who seek sex partners over the Internet appear to be at greater risk of catching AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases than those who don t, according to a new federal study. The study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention here found that seeking sex on the Web was relatively common
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. government s export-finance agency is planning a campaign to help American businesses sell about $1 billion in AIDS drugs, medical equipment and health services to two dozen sub-Saharan African nations. Officials of the Export-Import Bank, which usually finances sales of such things as jets and t
DURBAN, South Africa -- Stepping up pressure on the U.S. and European pharmaceuticals industries to reduce drug prices, officials from more than a dozen African nations hard hit by the AIDS pandemic have opened preliminary talks here with representatives of generic-drug producers in Bra
DURBAN, South Africa -- An emotionally charged debate has erupted here regarding one of the most pressing concerns of the fast-spreading AIDS pandemic: whether an easy-to-use and inexpensive drug therapy can prevent millions of pregnant women from passing to their unborn children the deadly virus they carry. The s
DURBAN, South Africa -- As a week-long international AIDS conference got under way Sunday, several major pharmaceuticals companies, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the World Bank confirmed that they are developing separate big projects to provide poor nations a wealth of financial and human resources to fight
Levels of both HIV infection and AIDS continue to remain stable in the U.S., rather than dropping, and roughly five million Americans remain at high risk for HIV infection because of their sexual behavior and drug use, according to the latest federal health data. Researchers with the federal Centers for Disease Control
GABORONE, Botswana -- Edward Baralengwa, the founder of an AIDS counseling organization here, is one of the lucky ones. Last year he received a $400,000 grant as part of an unusual corporate donation from Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. to help stem the spread of AIDS in Africa. Mr. Baralengwa soon learned that the gift c
It may seem churlish, but the South African government and some health officials are criticizing Pfizer Inc. s offer to give the country a powerful and expensive drug for treating a deadly AIDS-related infection. They say the gift is too restrictive to be of much benefit to the many thousands of people who need it.
For almost 10 years, public-health workers have searched for a potent but simple-to-use vaginal cream to protect women, especially in the developing world, from contracting HIV. Earlier this week, hopes for the quick emergence of such a product were dashed when Columbia Laboratories Inc., a small Miami company, reporte
A clinical trial sponsored by the United Nations group UNAIDS , using 700 prostitutes in South Africa and other developing countries, has ended in bitter disappointment after about 100 women included in the study of Columbia Laboratories Inc. s spermicide contracted HIV. Researchers had hoped the spermicide would p
Samantha Marshall and Steve Stecklow, Staff Reporters
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- At the bustling Shady Bamboo bar and restaurant, a flock of uniformed young women descends on arriving customers, each woman pitching a different beer. Uncle, uncle, please try my brand, they playfully plead. Tain Aeng is among them. Dressed in a bright blue blazer and miniskirt, with a badge th
Michael Waldholz and Gardiner Harris, Staff Reporters
An offer by five drug makers to slash their prices on AIDS medicines for African nations has added fuel to a world-wide debate over high drug prices and equal access for the poor to expensive medicines. The announcement Thursday sparked calls for a similar program to help the poor throughout the developing world. It al
In a landmark response to the AIDS crisis in Africa, five of the world s largest pharmaceutical companies offered to slash the prices of HIV drugs for people living in poor nations. The companies unprecedented joint agreement, which was announced by the United Nations Thursday, should make it possible for considerably
AIDS activists shouting Pfizer s Greed Kills tried to interrupt Pfizer Inc. s annual meeting Thursday at a New York City hotel, protesting the high price of the company s antifungal drug Diflucan, a life-saving therapy for many suffering from HIV infection. The 10 activists from ACT UP were forced down a back staircase
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- Pfizer Inc. is expected Monday to tell the government here it will give away its expensive drug, Diflucan, to thousands of people in South Africa suffering from AIDS. The bold, surprising move is likely to spur other drug makers to launch drug giveaways and price reductions in developing n
NEW YORK -- Pfizer Inc., under growing pressure from AIDS advocacy groups, said it is considering demands to lower the price of its powerful antifungal drug, Diflucan, for patients in the developing world. The advocacy groups, including the international organization, Doctors Without Borders, have been urging the drug
At 8:13 a.m. on Feb. 16, a news release from Human Genome Sciences Inc. crossed the news wires, and instantly its shares began soaring in premarket trading. The company said it had just received a U.S. patent giving it commercial ownership of a gene that HIV, the AIDS virus, exploits when it infects a cell. The news ex
Several pharmaceuticals companies are attempting to improve the treatment of AIDS with new drugs, or versions of older medicines, that can be taken once a day. Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. said it is developing a powerful once-daily drug against AIDS that could serve as an anchor in a therapy that would be much easier to u
Early evidence is emerging that temporarily stopping AIDS-drug therapy might actually help some patients strengthen their immune systems to better fight the AIDS virus. This is one of the more intriguing and controversial issues being addressed at a major AIDS science meeting this week in San Francisco. Several new but
Michael Waldholz, Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal
Researchers at Merck & Co. have solved a riddle that for years has blocked drug makers from developing a potentially important type of drug against AIDS. The Merck scientists are reporting in the journal Science Friday that they have found two experimental compounds that in laboratory tests were able to obstruct th
Michael Waldholz, Staff Reporter of the Wall Street Journal
The racial face of AIDS in America is changing dramatically. The federal government will report Friday that, for the first time, men of color now represent the largest number of AIDS cases among men who have homosexual sex. As of the end of 1998, African-Americans, Latinos and other minorities represented 52% of AIDS c
This information is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.