AIDS Daily Summary April 22, 1996 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National AIDS Clearinghouse makes available the following information as a public service only. Providing this information does not constitute endorsement by the CDC, the CDC National AIDS Clearinghouse, or any other organization. Reproduction of this text is encouraged; however, copies may not be sold, and the CDC National AIDS Clearinghouse should be cited as the source of this information. Copyright 1996, Information, Inc., Bethesda, MD ************************************************************ "Deal Proposed in U.S. HIV Suit" "Hemophiliac Groups Doubt Likelihood of AIDS Settlement" "Infectious Diseases Defy Optimism" "Prescription for Disaster" "New Clue on AIDS?" "Russia--Health: Tuberculosis Is Back, and Harder..." "Bayer Offers $270 Million to Settle HIV Lawsuits..." "Pasteur Implicated in Blood Scandal?" "AIDS Activists Say Managed Care Curtails Treatment" "To Die For" ************************************************************ "Deal Proposed in U.S. HIV Suit" Chicago Tribune (04/20/96) P. 2-3; Hutchcraft, Chuck Baxter Healthcare, Bayer, Armour Pharmaceutical/Rhone Poulenc Rorer, and Alpha Therapeutic have offered to pay at least $100,000 each to 6,000 Americans who contracted HIV from tainted blood products sold by the companies. Spouses, children, or others infected through the hemophiliacs can also receive the payment, as can survivors of individuals who died of AIDS. The drug makers are also offering to pay $40 million in legal fees and administrative costs. The settlement would free the companies of any future liability. Baxter--which last month agreed to pay part of the settlement reached for Japanese hemophiliacs infected with HIV--would pay $128 million in the U.S. agreement. The company has also agreed to settlements in Germany and Canada. Related Story: St. Louis Post-Dispatch (04/19) P. 9C "Hemophiliac Groups Doubt Likelihood of AIDS Settlement" Wall Street Journal (04/22/96) P. B8; Burton, Thomas M. Lawyers and representatives of hemophiliac groups say they doubt that the necessary number of hemophiliacs infected with HIV will accept the recent proposal of a $640 million settlement offer made by the blood product manufacturers. Under the terms of the offer, 95 percent of all current plaintiffs would have to accept, and, if the offer becomes a class-action settlement, no more than 100 people could opt out of the settlement and pursue individual cases. An attorney for the hemophiliacs said that 95 percent of the individual lawsuits would not be dropped, at least not by the May 20 deadline imposed by the manufacturers. There are an estimated 600 lawsuits in the United States over related to HIV infection from clotting products. "Infectious Diseases Defy Optimism" Washington Times (04/22/96) P. A10 Despite optimistic predictions 30 years ago that infectious diseases like malaria and tuberculosis would be wiped out, they have resurged to the point where half the world's population lives in fear of them. The Worldwatch Institute reported Saturday that illness and death from tuberculosis, malaria, dengue fever, and AIDS have risen dramatically, and that infectious disease was the cause of one-third of all deaths worldwide in 1993. The group said that rapidly growing populations, rampant poverty, inadequate preventive medical care and sanitation, misuse of antibiotics, and polluted water and air were all causes of the resurgence of previously latent diseases and the emergence of new diseases like AIDS. "Prescription for Disaster" Washington Post (04/22/96) P. A21; Edward M. Kennedy In a letter to the editor of the Washington Post, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) takes issue with the Republican proposals in Congress to reform the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Kennedy asserts that the proposed changes would weaken the agency's ability to provide safe drugs and medical products, leaving Americans vulnerable to increased public health problems. He notes, for example, that a minor change in the solvent used to kill viruses in blood products could result in the ineffective sterilization of blood and the transmission of HIV or hepatitis. The senator also criticizes the House Republican legislation that would eliminate existing requirements for the FDA to approve certain products, like surgical gloves and diagnostic tests. As an example, Kennedy cites the use of a defective AIDS tests in other countries, pointing out that this product was not used in the United States. "New Clue on AIDS?" Chicago Tribune (04/21/96) P. 5-1; Hutchcraft, Chuck When Dale Kempf, a chemist for Abbott Laboratories, was working with renin inhibitors in 1987 he saw an opportunity to apply his research to fighting HIV. Renin is an enzyme, or protease, that is similar to the HIV protease. The result of the attempt to apply the research on renin was ritonavir, which became the second of three protease inhibitors to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The drugs represent a major breakthrough in the fight against AIDS because they suppress the virus, allowing infected people to live longer. Ritonavir, particularly when combined with other AIDS drugs, was the first protease inhibitor to demonstrate the ability to increase AIDS patients' survival. "Russia--Health: Tuberculosis Is Back, and Harder..." IPS News Service (04/20/96) Tuberculosis (TB), previously thought to be under control in Russia, has resurged, infecting almost 10 percent of the population last year. The World Health Organization predicts that at least 30 million people will die of TB in the next ten years if the present trends continue. It now is the leading cause of death among women and people with HIV. The disease reappeared for the first time in decades in Russia in 1991. Since then, the rate of infection has grown by nearly 50 percent. The outbreak is blamed on the collapse of the preventive health system, brought on by a 1992 law requiring all health care facilities to be self-sufficient. Increased unemployment, inflation, and environmental pollution have also contributed to the spread of the disease. Russia's treatment program for TB differs from the World Health Organization's in that its policy involves the full isolation of infected patients during treatment. "Bayer Offers $270 Million to Settle HIV Lawsuits..." Reuters (04/19/96); Herbst-Bayliss, Svea German company Bayer AG said Friday it had offered to pay about $270 million to settle several U.S. lawsuits accusing the company of selling HIV-tainted blood products to hemophiliacs. Bayer would pay about 45 percent of the total $600 million from four companies. Parts of the settlement would be paid to as many as 10,000 patients or their families. The deal may not be accepted, however, because of some the conditions of the agreement from the companies. "Pasteur Implicated in Blood Scandal?" Science (04/12/96) Vol. 272, No. 5259, P. 185 The respected Pasteur Institute in Paris may be implicated in France's contaminated blood case. Jean Weber, a former head of Pasteur Diagnostics (PD), in which the Institute's foundation holds more than one-quarter of the shares, was charged with "complicity in poisoning" for his supposed role in the scandal. The French government has been accused of trying to keep an Abbott Laboratories HIV test off the market in 1985, while waiting for PD to prepare its own version. Weber allegedly wrote to the government to persuade officials to put off Abbott's application because "a rapid approval of the two Abbott and Pasteur tests in France would be particularly dangerous for the national interest." During this period, hundreds of individuals may have received HIV-contaminated blood transfusions. "AIDS Activists Say Managed Care Curtails Treatment" American Medical News (04/15/96) Vol. 39, No. 15, P. 15 AIDS activists speaking at the Eighth National AIDS Update Conference in San Francisco voiced concerns about managed care's adverse impact on AIDS treatment. AIDS patient and activist Mary Fisher said, "In the world of managed care, HIV-infected people are as popular as Jesse Helms at a gay pride rally." While many participants acknowledged that managed care can offer AIDS patients better disease prevention strategies and more convenient care, the patients who become very sick say they are not getting the care they need. Dr. Bill Owen, of Davies Medical Center in San Francisco, said he receives $9 a month under one plan for a patient whom he sees at least once a month for tests, treatment, and hospitalization. Mark Smith, a health policy expert with Kaiser Family Foundation, agreed that doctors are paid too little for AIDS work but said the doctors need to adjust to constraints. "To Die For" Advocate (04/16/96) No. 705, P. 23; Friess, Steve When a Washington state federal appeals court reversed an assisted-suicide ban in March, it opened the door to a Supreme Court review of the issue, expected sometime in 1997. The ruling could also make obsolete two pending California cases: one in which a gay man is charged with a felony for assisting in the death of his AIDS-stricken partner, and another in which suicide doctor Jack Kevorkian and an AIDS patient are trying to overturn California's ban on euthanasia. Some experts warn that legalizing assisted suicide could prompt patients to end their lives only to avoid costly health care and the suffering of loved ones. "This could be a dangerous situation for people with AIDS," said University of Michigan law professor Yale Kamisar. Kamisar said he doubted that the Supreme Court would uphold the Washington court decision.