Bethesda, Md.--For the first time, the AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the group conducting government-sponsored AIDS trials nationwide, yesterday opened its doors to AIDS activists and patients. Activists from the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) have been among the most vocal critics of the ACTG's custom of meeting every three months in closed-door sessions to plan how human trials of AIDS therapies will be conducted and to report on progress. The researchers, however, opened their doors to ACT UP and the public yesterday, with Anthony Fauci, director of the research effort, urging scientists not to be threatened by the questions of activists and patients.

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