The Nation : AIDS Drug Prolongs Life, Study Shows
About 75% of nearly 5,000 AIDS patients who received the drug AZT were alive 44 weeks after starting therapy--a survival rate markedly higher than AIDS patients who did not get the drug, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. Researchers from Burroughs Wellcome Co., the maker of the drug, reported that the survival rate of people taking AZT “seems to be higher” than has been seen in any similar study of AIDS patients. In addition, the researchers said “AZT has very definite positive effects” regardless of a patient’s sex, race or mode of acquiring the virus that causes AIDS. AZT, or zidovudine, the only drug the Food and Drug Administration has approved to directly fight the disease, does not cure AIDS, but appears to slow its course.
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