AFRO-NETS> Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report - Wed, 15 Aug 2001

[Cecilia Snyder <csnyder@ccmc.org>]

Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report - Wed, 15 Aug 2001
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*Tanzania Investigates Human Trial of Experimental AIDS Drug
*USAID Should Contract With Asian Companies to Produce Condoms, 
  Boston Globe Editorial States


Tanzania Investigates Human Trial of Experimental AIDS Drug


Tanzania Department of Health Chief Medical Officer Gabriel Upunda 
has announced that the department is investigating whether a human 
clinical trial of the experimental AIDS drug Virodene PO58 was con-
ducted without following proper regulatory approval, the Wall Street 
Journal reports (Schoofs/Idudu, Wall Street Journal, 8/15). Virodene, 
which is derived from an industrial solvent known as dimethylforma-
mide (DMF), has been hailed as a "potential wonder drug" by its sup-
porters and "vehemently" criticized as a "modern-day snake oil that 
could conceivably make AIDS worse" by its opponents (Kaiser Daily 
HIV/AIDS Report, 7/19). Tanzanian health officials said that the 
trial required approval from the country's National Institute for 
Medical Research, which had rejected the proposal. But study leaders 
Jacques Siegfried Visser and Michelle Olga Patricia Visser said that 
institute approval was not necessary because they had "worked 
closely" with the Tanzanian military and police to test the drug on 
64 HIV patients. They added that the trial, held in Dar es Salaam be-
tween September 2000 and March 2001, was "properly approved" and 
"conducted with the highest ethical standards". The health depart-
ment's examination of the study is not a criminal investigation; af-
ter reviewing the approval procedures officials will decide whether 
any action is warranted. Virodene "caused an uproar" in 1997 when 
South African researchers tested the drug on 11 HIV-positive patients 
without ethics board approval, and South African drug regulators 
"eventually refused" to permit further human tests of the compound 
(Wall Street Journal, 8/15).

USAID Should Contract With Asian Companies to Produce Condoms, Boston 
Globe Editorial States

USAID should procure a waiver allowing it to contract with Asian 
manufacturers to produce condoms for the developing world, a Boston 
Globe editorial state. USAID is looking to purchase up to 550 million 
condoms next year for distribution in developing nations and is cur-
rently weighing the bids of several companies for the contract. Asian 
manufacturers have said they can produce condoms for 2.5 cents 
apiece, but the American companies might charge "as high as 10 cents" 
per condom". Buy America" laws stipulate that federal money spent on 
products destined to be used abroad must be spent on American-made 
products. However, USAID could get "more than twice as many [condoms] 
for the same cost" if it awards the contract to an Asian manufac-
turer, the editorial states. The editorial says, "Despite the impact 
on U.S. jobs, the course is clear in the face of the worldwide public 
health catastrophe that AIDS presents. ... Paying a premium for the 
condoms to protect U.S. jobs might be defensible if there were a sur-
plus of the life-saving latex prophylactics. But there is a short-
age." The editorial concludes that donor governments and agencies 
must "have more condoms in the supply line. Getting a waiver for AID 
to buy overseas is a logical step in that direction" (Boston Globe, 
8/14).

The Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report is published for kaiser-network.org,
a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, by National
Journal Group Inc. , 2001 by National Journal Group Inc. and Kaiser
Family Foundation. All rights reserved. 


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