1999

Abbott to Pay $100 Million Penalty, Withdraw Test Kits From Market: The Wall Street Journal - November 3, 1999; Thomas M. Burton, Staff Reporter; Abbott Laboratories , paying a steep price for quality-assurance shortcomings, agreed to pay a $100 million civil penalty to the U.S. government and pull 125 types of medical-diagnostic test kits off the U.S. market. The test kits at issue, representing about $250 million in annual sales, will disappear from the U.S.
Special Report: Health and Medicine Disease by Disease Some of the advances scientists expect to make against specific ailments in the decades ahead: The Wall Street Journal - October 18, 1999; Ron Winslow, Robert Langreth and Michael Waldholz of The Wall Street Journal; Talk about the future of medicine, and the first question most people ask is: When will scientists be able to cure -- ? Making such predictions, of course, is a hazardous business. After all, back in the early 1970s, when the nation launched the War on Cancer, scientists were sure they would have the disease beat by th
U.S. Bioscience Suspends Test of AIDS Drug After a Death: The Wall Street Journal - October 15, 1999; Ron Winslow, Staff Reporter of the Wall Street Journal; U.S. Bioscience Inc. said it suspended testing of its experimental AIDS drug lodenosine after one patient died and several others showed evidence of possible liver or kidney damage in a clinical trial. The drug, one of a class of compounds called nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors, was being tested in a so-cal
MIT Scientists Find Experimental Drugs That Might Block HIV's Entry Into Cells: The Wall Street Journal - October 1, 1999; Michael Waldholz - Staff Reporter of the Wall Street Journal; A group of scientists who have spent the past few years studying how the AIDS-causing virus infects cells said they have found an experimental class of drugs they believe can block the virus from entering cells, a finding that may some day lead to the first drugs that can actually prevent an infection from occurring in
Gilead AIDS Drug Shows Promise Against Resistance: The Wall Street Journal - September 28, 1999; Ralph T. King Jr., Michael Waldholz and Thomas M. Burton Staff Reporters of the Wall Street Journal; SAN FRANCISCO -- An experimental AIDS drug from Gilead Sciences Inc., tenofovir, had a significant antiviral effect without toxicity in a trial of patients who had become resistant to some of the most common AIDS therapies. Resistance is one of the toughest problems doctors treating AIDS patients face. In some pati
In Parts of Africa, AIDS Epidemic Spreads Aggressively to Teenage Girls: The Wall Street Journal - September 15, 1999; Michael Waldholz, Staff Reporter of the Wall Street Journal; The AIDS epidemic in some hard-hit areas of sub-Saharan Africa is now spreading aggressively to teenage girls who are being infected by older men. The trend offers grim evidence that sexual practices in some regions are putting women at increasingly high risk of disease and death at an alarmingly young age. A new study
World-Wide: Number of AIDS Deaths Drops 20% But Pace of Decline Slows Significantly: The Wall Street Journal - August 31, 1999; Michael Waldholz - Staff Reporter of the Wall Street Journal; AIDS deaths in the U.S. last year continued to fall substantially, as they have since the 1995 introduction of powerful multidrug combinations, but the rate of decline slowed sharply, worrying experts, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention http://www.cdc.gov Infections
Heard In The Northwest: Saliva Drug Test May be the Cure For What Ails Epitope's Growth: The Wall Street Journal - August 11, 1999; Steven D. Jones; Investors don t give much thought to Epitope right now. But if some analysts are right about the Portland company s saliva test, that could change. The biotech concern, which began as a private research firm in 1981, hasn t had much success creating a market for its system of using saliva to check for illegal drug use
Merck Is Scheduled to Test AIDS Vaccines on Humans: The Wall Street Journal - July 30, 1999; Michael Waldholz - Staff Reporter; As the AIDS pandemic spreads largely unabated outside the U.S., public-health officials have been waiting hopefully for a breakthrough in the development of a vaccine. Now Merck & Co. , after numerous years of effort and failed attempts, appears to have made one. Merck scientists are laying plans to begin the first
Rhone-Poulenc HIV Vaccine Induces Immune Response: Wall Street Journal, July 13, 1999; NEW YORK -- Rhone-Poulenc SA s (RP) Pasteur Merieux Connaught unit reported its HIV vaccine induced immune responses in patients during a Phase II trial. In a press release Tuesday, the company said the trial, known as AVEG 202/HIVNET 014, involved 435 healthy men and women not infected with HIV, the virus that causes
Glaxo's AIDS Drug Ziagen Cleared To Be Marketed Throughout EU: The Wall Street Journal - July 9, 1999; LONDON -- United Kingdom pharmaceutical group Glaxo Wellcome PLC said Friday that it has received approval from the European Commission to market its anti-HIV medicine Ziagen in all 15 countries of the European Union. Ziagen is indicated in combination therapy for the trea
New Drug From Pharmacia May Fight Strains of AIDS: The Wall Street Journal - June 24, 1999; Michael Waldholz, Staff Reporter; In a laboratory study both hopeful and surprising, researchers found an experimental drug being developed by Pharmacia & Upjohn may be active against many strains of the AIDS virus that have developed resistance to existing drugs. If the new drug s potency holds up in human trials, the Pharmacia & Upjohn compo
Health-Coverage Bill for Disabled Is Approved by House Committee: Wall Street Journal - May 20, 1999; WASHINGTON -- The House Commerce Committee unanimously approved a bill that would allow people with disabilities to keep their government-funded health coverage even if they get a job. The Work Incentives Improvement Act, backed by both parties, President Clinton and disability advocates, would extend Medicare coverage
Bristol-Myers Heeds Calls to Bolster The War Against HIV in Africa: The Wall Street Journal - Thursday, May 6, 1999; Michael Waldholz, Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal; Drug companies are facing a dilemma when it comes to dispensing powerful new AIDS medicines where they are needed most: sub-Saharan Africa, home to 70% of the world s HIV-infected population. The therapies are too expensive for most patients, and much of the region lacks basic medical services. So far, most companies h
Gates Foundation to Give $25 Million To Advance AIDS Vaccine Research: The Wall Street Journal - Tuesday, May 4, 1999; Ron Winslow, Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal; The foundation of Microsoft Corp. founder and Chairman Bill Gates is donating $25 million to advance the development of AIDS vaccines. The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, the recipient of the gift, said it is the largest single donation ever given to an AIDS-related cause and that it will enable the organization
FDA Approves AIDS Drug To Be Marketed by Glaxo: The Wall Street Journal - Friday, April 16, 1999; LONDON -- Glaxo Wellcome PLC said Friday that the Food and Drug Administration has approved its AIDS drug Agenerase , the fifth entrant into the $1 billion national market for HIV-fighting protease inhibitors . After a fast-track
Stem Cells From Adults Have an Edge Battling Disease: The Wall Street Journal - Tuesday, April 13, 1999; Laura Johannes, Staff Reporter; The isolation of stem cells from an aborted fetus a few months ago sparked great excitement among scientists. Some of them speculated that the embryonic cells were a kind of miraculous clay that, given the proper nudge, could be turned into any type of human cell -- and even entire organs. But a humbler type of stem ce
Bitter Patent Dispute Spills Onto Internet, And Makes a Mess: The Wall Street Journal - March 17, 1999; Andrew Fraser, The Wall Street Journal; A patent dispute between two small Florida biotech firms has spawned a nasty battle on the Internet, with executives lobbing charges in message boards of theft of intellectual property and other misdeeds. Technical Chemical & Products Inc. of Pompano Beach and Americare Health Scan Inc. of Miami have been locked in
Rhone-Poulenc Is Testing AIDS Vaccine In Africa; VaxGen Plans Trial in Thailand: The Wall Street Journal - Tuesday, February 9, 1999; Michael Waldholz and Ralph T. King Jr. Staff Reporters of The Wall Street Journal; Researchers began the first-ever test of an experimental AIDS vaccine in Africa, and a separate team of researchers said they would soon begin a giant efficacy test of another vaccine in Thailand , as part of a push to determine if a vaccine can prevent or reduce the rate of infection from HIV, the AIDS virus, in the d
Drug-Free Breaks Considered Possible for AIDS Patients: The Wall Street Journal - Friday, February 5, 1999; Michael Waldholz, Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal; CHICAGO -- Researchers confirmed that evidence emerging in recent months provides preliminary hints that some people infected with the AIDS virus may someday be able to halt their combination drug therapy, at least temporarily, and still keep the virus from causing illness. Several research reports presented at a major
Drug-Resistant AIDS Virus Strains Become More Widespread in U.S.: The Wall Street Journal - Friday, February 5, 1999; Michael Waldholz, Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal; CHICAGO -- Researchers presented new evidence that drug-resistant versions of the AIDS virus are circulating in the U.S. in amounts larger than previously seen, a finding certain to complicate and perhaps even threaten the successful use of the new AIDS drugs. Several separate research investigations, using two new typ
Study Shows a Brief Drug Regimen Can Cut HIV Transmission at Birth: The Wall Street Journal - Tuesday, February 2, 1999; Michael Waldholz, Staff Reporter of the Wall Street Journal; CHICAGO -- Researchers said the risk of transmission of the AIDS virus from infected pregnant women to their newborns can be reduced significantly by a very short-term dose of two drugs, a potentially important way of reducing the disease among children in the developing world. In a presentation at a major HIV/AIDS sci
Health: Out of Africa, Origins of AIDS Emerge --- A Virus Turns Deadly Jumping From Chimps to Man: The Wall Street Journal, February 1, 1999; Michael Waldholz; Chicago -- Solving an important piece of one of the most unsettling medical mysteries of the late 20th century, virus hunters say they finally have found the likely source of HIV , the killer AIDS virus. Using state-of-the-art gene probing techniques, researchers have tracked the virus s origin to chimpanzees who have
Abbott Labs to Present Findings Of Viral-Reducing AIDS Drug: The Wall Street Journal - Monday, February 1, 1999; Thomas M. Burton, Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal; A new AIDS drug under development by Abbott Laboratories reduced viral loads to below-detectable levels in about 90% of patients tested, according to clinical-study results to be presented Monday at a major medical conference. It is better than existing drugs and is probably going to be the most potent protease inhibit
Researchers Claim to Have Found Source of the Killer AIDS Virus: The Wall Street Journal - Monday, February 1, 1999; Michael Waldholz, Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal; CHICAGO -- Solving an important piece of one of the most unsettling medical mysteries of the late 20th century, virus hunters say they finally have found the likely source of HIV, the killer AIDS virus. Using state-of-the-art gene probing techniques, researchers have tracked the virus s origin to chimpanzees who have r
Doctors Fighting AIDS: Worry About 'Late Failures': The Wall Street Journal - Monday, February 1, 1999; Elyse Tanouye, Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal; BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Rabbi Cynthia Culpeper, 36 years old, was diagnosed with the AIDS virus three years ago, just after beginning her first rabbinical job at a Montgomery, Ala., synagogue. Her doctor, Michael Saag, director of the AIDS clinic at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, immediately put her on powerful c
Cesarean Sections May Reduce Risk Of Transmitting HIV to Newborns: The Wall Street Journal - January 29, 1999; Ron Winslow, Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal; Pregnant women infected with the virus that causes AIDS can significantly reduce the risk of passing the virus to their newborns by undergoing a Cesarean-section delivery before the onset of labor, researchers said. The findings, from a study involving more than 8,500 mothers and their babies, provide a significant new
Studies Will See if Drug 'Holidays' For HIV Patients Can Lead to Vaccine: The Wall Street Journal, January 25, 1999; Michael Waldholz and Elyse Tanouye, Staff Reporters of The Wall Street Journal; AIDS scientists have stumbled across a surprising new avenue of research, one that holds hope for a future vaccine and, for at least some patients, a respite from the daily doses of cumbersome and expensive drug cocktails that allow them to keep the AIDS virus in check. In a flurry of experiments begun in the past few
"HIV Patients Who Quit Drug Combo and Thrive Offer Researchers Clues": Wall Street Journal (01/25/99) P. A1; Waldholz, Michael; Tanouye, Elyse; Over the past few weeks, several well-known AIDS researchers have begun small experiments to determine how the immune system of patients who have been taking powerful AIDS drugs reacts when the patients halt drug therapy. While so-called drug holidays have been considered extremely dangerous, mainly because of concerns

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©1980, 1999. AEGiS.