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‘I Had No Night Sweats, No Fever’ : Victim Knew AIDS Test Drug Was Working

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Times Staff Writer

Raul Cartaya suspected he was benefiting from an experimental anti-AIDS drug even before learning Thursday that he had been given the medication and not a placebo the past five months.

“You could tell by (the difference) in the way we felt,” the 38-year-old San Diegan said Friday, referring to the 16 local residents taking the drug in a controlled trial compared to an equal number on a look-alike placebo capsule.

“I had a lot more energy, I could complete sentences, my fatigue was almost gone, I had no night sweats, no fever, my vision came (back to normal) and skin problems disappeared,” Cartaya said of improvement in the numerous symptoms he earlier had displayed. Cartaya, suffering from the less-severe form of AIDS known as AIDS-related complex (ARC), began the experiment in late April.

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“I have a lot more hope now,” he said. “I thought before starting that it was only a matter of time when my case would be rediagnosed as AIDS.”

Cartaya expects to return to work as a systems analyst next month, while continuing to take the drug every four hours, every day, without exception.

At a news conference Friday at the UC San Diego School of Medicine, Cartaya said even the participants on placebos felt excitement over this week’s announcement that the experimental drug AZT (azidothymidine) has shown early, dramatic effects in prolonging and improving the lives of persons with diseases resulting from the deadly AIDS virus. UCSD was one of 12 centers nationwide--four in California--that conducted trials on a total 280 patients.

“There has been no negative reaction from those on (placebo),” Cartaya said. “Three even showed up (Thursday) at the clinic with champagne and flowers.”

Dr. Douglas Richman, UCSD medical professor who headed the dozen physicians and nurses conducting the local study, said at the press conference that close rapport with all participants helped avoid resentment after everyone officially learned this week who was on drugs and who was on placebos.

“They appreciated that the study was designed to get the fastest answers possible as soon as possible and that they would get the drug as soon as its efficacy was proved,” Richman said.

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“I think they can accept that, and there is a feeling today of relief and appreciation, not resentment, among all patients.”

Because of the promise shown by AZT, a decision was made this week at Washington’s National Institutes of Health to stop the drug trial and immediately give the drug to the patients who were on a placebo. The drug, manufactured only by a single company--the Burroughs Wellcome Co. of North Carolina--will be made available to perhaps as many as half the nation’s 12,000 AIDS patients still alive by the end of the year.

The 14 San Diego patients on the placebo--two died early in the study--were put on AZT Tuesday, Richman said. He estimated that as many as 200 San Diego residents with AIDS or ARC could receive the drug within several months, as soon as adequate supplies become available.

“I do not want to withhold (the drug) from any AIDS patient now,” Richman said, adding that he will attend a meeting of the trial’s researchers this weekend at NIH to draw up plans for how to disperse the drug more widely, while monitoring ways to vary dosages based on age and other factors. “It will be weeks to months before everyone (who can benefit) can obtain AZT.”

Richman said he has been impressed by the “restraint and understanding” so far this week by AIDs patients not in the drug trial in demanding AZT as word leaked of the drug’s potential. “You can’t give a drug we don’t have,” he said, adding that a toll-free hot line number (1-800-843-9388) has been set up for patients and their doctors.

Richman said that side effects from the drug--which prevents the virus from replicating inside the body--still need to be studied further, although preliminary evidence indicates no unmanageable problems. A few patients have required periodic red blood cell transfusions because of anemia.

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“All data has not been analyzed yet,” Richman said. “We can’t claim this is a new penicillin yet, and it’s too premature to make extravagant claims. But we can say with confidence that it prolongs life and can say it offers a better quality of life.

“It’s hard to imagine that it will cure the virus from the body, based on what is known. But if it can suppress it indefinitely, we’d be very happy.”

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