U.S. Seeking 44% Hike in ’86 Funds for AIDS Research, Papers Show

Signaling a heightened level of concern about the AIDS epidemic, the Reagan Administration has proposed a 44% increase in its original budget request for fiscal 1986 research funds, according to documents released to The Times Saturday by Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles).

The Health and Human Services Department has asked Congress for authority to shift money from existing health programs to add $37.8 million to its original fiscal 1986 request of $86 million for AIDS research, and to increase this year’s funding by $7.9 million.

The department made the request this weekend in letters to Rep. Jamie L. Whitten (D-Miss.), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, and to Waxman, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on health.

Need for More Study

“The work to develop an effective vaccine, treatment therapies and improved diagnostic tests must be intensified,” Health and Human Services Secretary Margaret M. Heckler wrote to Whitten. “Scientific advances on AIDS in recent months have been significant, but unfortunately not conclusive, and have led to new avenues for research, epidemiology and prevention activities which require additional research beyond those contemplated when the 1986 President’s budget was developed.”

Waxman, who has frequently criticized the Administration for its “years of delay and neglect” in allocating sufficient funds for AIDS research, attributed the turnabout to a realization that the disease “is not going to go away--this is not just another in a long string of public health problems.”

He added: “Finally, the Administration has acknowledged that it is doing far too little on AIDS. I am pleased that Secretary Heckler has requested a real increase. I regret that it took six months for her to do so. During those six months, 1,800 Americans died of AIDS, 3,300 more were diagnosed and untold thousands were infected.”

AIDS, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome, destroys the body’s immune system, leaving its victims vulnerable to otherwise rare infections.

About 12,000 persons have contracted AIDS thus far, most of them male homosexuals and intravenous drug users, and an estimated 6,000 have died. The department has projected a total of more than 17,000 cases by the end of 1985. In March, New York City was reported to have 36% of the known cases of AIDS, San Francisco 12% and Los Angeles County 8%.

AIDS is believed to be transmitted through bodily fluids. Although the cause of AIDS has been identified as a virus called HTLV-III, there is no known cure.

Diverted From Grants

Most of the new AIDS funds would be diverted from building-construction grants for the National Institutes of Health. Also, smaller amounts would be taken from the National Health Service Corps, the Indian Health Service and the Centers for Disease Control, according to the documents.

The Health and Human Services Department also proposed a series of new programs to accelerate AIDS research by the Food and Drug Administration, NIH and CDC. Among them was a five-year follow-up of blood donors found positive by the HTLV-III blood screening test, and an expansion of studies to clarify the extent and means of AIDS transmission among heterosexuals.

The department also has proposed clinical trials to study the effectiveness of several anti-viral drugs and animal studies.