(ATN) Aerosol Pentamidine, Dextran Sulfate Delayed By Lack of Staff

(ATN) Aerosol Pentamidine, Dextran Sulfate Delayed By Lack of Staff

AIDS TREATMENT NEWS No. 056 - May 6, 1988
John S. James

On April 28 and 29, Representives Ted Weiss, Nancy Pelosi, and others on the House Subcommittee on Human Resources grilled Federal officials on AIDS treatment research delays. The New York Times reported in a page-one story (April 30) that Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), admitted that lack of staff had delayed some of the most promising drugs for up to a year. Examples given were dextran sulfate and aerosol pentamidine-- the latter still not in Federal trials for over a year after receiving high-priority status at NIAID. Of 24 drugs assigned high priority status by a NIAID committee, only 13 are now in Federal clinical trials.

Fauci said that lack of a single full-time person to "chaperone" aerosol pentamidine through the many bureaucratic obstacles to testing and approval had caused the year-long delay in Federal trials and subsequent FDA approval. (We could add that this delay is almost certainly responsible for many hundreds of deaths, as many physicians refuse to consider using treatments not approved by the FDA, regardless of circumstances.)

Fauci also said that if he had had pneumocystis, he would probably try to get the treatment wherever he could.

We were not at the hearings, which took place in Washington, D.C.; but Martin Delaney of Project Inform, who testified April 28, told us that Representatives Weiss and Pelosi were very well prepared, and very aggressive in representing the patients' point of view.

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