AIDS Drug Rationing Planned

Burroughs Wellcome Co., concerned about an undersupply of its newly approved AIDS drug Retrovir, announced a unique distribution program today in which patients will need code numbers to fill prescriptions.

Company officials said at a news conference that starting Wednesday doctors will have to apply to the company for permission to prescribe Retrovir, the trade name for azidothymidine or AZT, the only drug on the market for acquired immune deficiency syndrome. Those patients the company deems most ill will receive a code number that will allow their pharmacist to order the drug directly from the London-based company’s Greenville, N.C., manufacturing plant.