The Nation : AIDS Drug ‘Promising’

An experimental new drug stops the AIDS virus from reproducing and attacking blood cells in the laboratory, and initial tests show it can be given safely to AIDS victims, researchers said. “I think this is very promising. This is one of the most potent drugs” against the AIDS virus, Dr. Hiroaki Mitsuya of the National Cancer Institute said. “The advantage of this agent is that it is less toxic in vitro,” or in the test tube, than other experimental AIDS medicines. The drug, known chemically as azidothymidine, has been code-named compound S by its developer, the pharmaceutical firm Burroughs Wellcome. Reports on experiments with the drug by Mitsuya and others were presented at a meeting in Minneapolis of the American Society for Microbiology.