Potent New AIDS Drug to Be Tested
A drug that has been shown in test-tube experiments to be a potent killer of the AIDS virus will be tested in human patients at the National Institutes of Health, officials announced.
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, the NIH agency that is leading the federal campaign against AIDS, said Monday that it will enroll up to 80 AIDS patients in clinical trials of a drug called U-90,152.
Officials said U-90,152 has shown it can sterilize cell cultures that have been infected with the virus that causes AIDS. Studies also have shown that the action of the new drug in stopping HIV is different from the three anti-AIDS drugs now licensed.
Officials said there is a possibility that using U-90,152 in combination with one of the other drugs would be more effective against HIV than any of the drugs alone.
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