2000

Unicef vs. Baby-Formula Industry: The Dispute Begins to Spill Over: Wall Street Journal - December 5, 2000; Alix M. Freedman and Steve Stecklow; In May, the United Nations and five major pharmaceutical companies announced an unprecedented proposal to slash the prices of new HIV drugs in the Third World. Unicef, alone among the five U.N. organizations involved in the discussions, didn t issue a press release. That was no oversight. In an interview, Unicef execut
Wyeth, Nestle Offer Free Tins to Stem Spread of AIDS; Children's Agency Balks: Wall Street Journal, Tuesday, December 5, 2000; Alix M. Freedman and Steve Stecklow; KAMPALA, Uganda -- When Busingye Scovia, who is infected with the AIDS virus, delivered a healthy baby girl last year, she was warned by hospital staff that breast-feeding could infect her newborn. But no one at the hospital told her about an alternative: infant formula. As is true all over the developing world, hospit
FDA Finds Violations at Red Cross Exposing Blood Supply to Safety Risks: Wall Street Journal - December 4, 2000; By a Wall Street Journal Staff Reporter; WASHINGTON -- Despite years of close government scrutiny, errors and procedural lapses at the American Red Cross continue to leave the nation s blood supply open to safety problems, the Food and Drug Administration said. FDA inspectors who visited Red Cross headquarters in April found violations of manufacturing standa
Pfizer, South Africa Agree on Plan For Donations for AIDS Medicine: Wall Street Journal - December 4, 2000; Michael Waldholz, Staff Reporter; After nine months of often tense negotiations, South Africa s ministry of health and Pfizer Inc. agreed on a plan in which the New York drug maker will donate $50 million of its drug, Diflucan, for treating people with two severe types of AIDS-related infections. Last March Pfizer offered to give away a certain amount
Glaxo Attempts to Block Access To Generic AIDS Drugs in Ghana: Wall Street Journal - December 1, 2000; Mark Schoofs, Staff Reporter; In the midst of the wrenching international debate over how to get expensive HIV drugs into Africa, pharmaceutical giant Glaxo Wellcome PLC has set off a new controversy by trying to block access to less-costly generic versions of its top-selling AIDS medicine. In letters to a drug distributor in
AIDS Hits African Area Hardest; Pfizer Announces Drug Giveaway: The Wall Street Journal - November 29, 2000; Rachel Zimmerman, Staff Reporter; After months of protracted negotiations, drug giant Pfizer Inc. is expected to announce Friday that it will give away a $50 million two-year supply of its expensive AIDS-related medicine, Diflucan, to the South African government. The announcement comes at the same time that the United Nations and
MTV Offers AIDS Special for Free To World-Wide Rival Networks: The Wall Street Journal - November 28, 2000; Edward Harris, Staff Reporter; On Dec. 1, 1998, on World AIDS Day, the Viacom Inc.-owned MTV Networks International aired an HIV-education program, Staying Alive, that reached a world-wide audience of 275 million households. The program aired only on MTV, the cable channel popular with the critical 16-to-34 age group. For this Friday s 13th annual W
Unfavorable Drug Study Sparks Battle Over Publication of Results: Wall Street Journal - November 1, 2000; Thomas M. Burton, Staff Reporter; A drug company sponsors clinical research on one of its products. When the results turn unfavorable, what does it do? Try to suppress publication of the results, at least in the case of Immune Response Corp., a Carlsbad, Calif., biotechnology company. In a situation raising questions about the ownership of medical rese
Computer Model Reveals HIV Mutations That Affect Bristol-Myers's Stavudine: Wall Street Journal - October 26, 2000; Meera Louis, Staff Reporter; Scientists said they have used a computer model to identify patterns of mutations in the genetic code of the HIV virus that make it resistant to the AIDS drug stavudine, a finding that could help doctors better tailor drug treatments for infected patients. The finding will be presented today by Virco, a closely held Be
Drug Companies, Senegal Agree To Low-Cost HIV Drug Pact: Wall Street Journal - October 24, 2000; Mark Schoofs and Michael Waldholz, Staff Reporters; Six months after five major pharmaceutical companies and the Joint United Nations Programme on AIDS made world-wide headlines by declaring their intention to make HIV drugs more affordable to poor countries, the first actual price-cut agreement has been struck with Senegal . The government of the West African nation la
AIDS Vaccine May Move to Trials In Humans After Success in Monkeys: The Wall Street Journal - October 20, 2000; Mark Schoofs, Staff Reporter; By giving a vaccine developed by Merck & Co. an extra boost, Harvard University scientists have prevented laboratory monkeys from getting sick when exposed to a virulent strain of the AIDS virus. Scientists are heralding the research, published Friday in the journal Science, as an important advance in the protracte
Long-Term AIDS Patients Hope Scientists Can Find More Answers: Wall Street Journal - September 28, 2000; Mark Schoofs; An AIDS study published Thursday in the journal Nature offers promise for newly infected patients. But what can be done for the estimated 34 million people who have been living with HIV for months or years? The approach of the new study, which aims to train patients immune systems to fight HIV without drugs, looks like
Newly Infected AIDS Patients May Squelch Virus Drug-Free: The Wall Street Journal - September 28, 2000; Mark Schoofs, Staff Reporter; Bruce Walker was a young doctor at Massachusetts General Hospital in the early 1980s when the first patients arrived with what was then a baffling new disease. I ve taken care of patients who ve had a lot of false hopes along the way, he says. I don t want to contribute to that. But as Dr. Walker, who now also works as
Zimbabwe President Mugabe Faces Conflicting Camps and a Big Strike: Wall Street Journal - August 2, 2000; Robert Block, Satff Reporter; JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- As a national general strike begins, Zimbabwe s President Robert Mugabe faces a painful choice. Having led his party to victory in June s elections on the back of promises to redistribute white-owned farms to landless blacks and veterans of the country s war of independence, Mr. Mugabe is
Surfing for Sex on the Web May Increase AIDS Risk: Wall Street Journal - July 26, 2000; ATLANTA -- People who seek sex partners over the Internet appear to be at greater risk of catching AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases than those who don t, according to a new federal study. The study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention here found that seeking sex on the Web was relatively common
Ex-Im Bank to Help American Businesses Sell AIDS Treatments to African Nations: Wall Street Journal - July 19, 2000; Michael M. Phillips, Staff Reporter; WASHINGTON -- The U.S. government s export-finance agency is planning a campaign to help American businesses sell about $1 billion in AIDS drugs, medical equipment and health services to two dozen sub-Saharan African nations. Officials of the Export-Import Bank, which usually finances sales of such things as jets and t
African Nations Discuss Possibility Of Buying Generic AIDS Drugs: The Wall Street Journal - July 13, 2000; Michael Waldholz, Staff Reporter; DURBAN, South Africa -- Stepping up pressure on the U.S. and European pharmaceuticals industries to reduce drug prices, officials from more than a dozen African nations hard hit by the AIDS pandemic have opened preliminary talks here with representatives of generic-drug producers in Bra
Officials at AIDS Meeting Debate Drugs' Effects on Unborn Children: Wall Street Journal, Wednesday, July 12, 2000; Michael Waldholz, Staff Reporter; DURBAN, South Africa -- An emotionally charged debate has erupted here regarding one of the most pressing concerns of the fast-spreading AIDS pandemic: whether an easy-to-use and inexpensive drug therapy can prevent millions of pregnant women from passing to their unborn children the deadly virus they carry. The s
Millions of Dollars, Drugs Are Promised At AIDS Conference to Combat Disease: The Wall Street Journal - July 10, 2000; Michael Waldholz, Staff Reporter; DURBAN, South Africa -- As a week-long international AIDS conference got under way Sunday, several major pharmaceuticals companies, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the World Bank confirmed that they are developing separate big projects to provide poor nations a wealth of financial and human resources to fight
Levels of HIV Infection, AIDS Fail To Decline in the U.S., Data Show: The Wall Street Journal - July 10, 2000; Ann Carrns, Staff Reporter; Levels of both HIV infection and AIDS continue to remain stable in the U.S., rather than dropping, and roughly five million Americans remain at high risk for HIV infection because of their sexual behavior and drug use, according to the latest federal health data. Researchers with the federal Centers for Disease Control
Bristol-Myers's AIDS Relief Is Hitting Hurdles in Africa: The Wall Street Journal - July 7, 2000; Michael Waldholz, Staff Reporter; GABORONE, Botswana -- Edward Baralengwa, the founder of an AIDS counseling organization here, is one of the lucky ones. Last year he received a $400,000 grant as part of an unusual corporate donation from Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. to help stem the spread of AIDS in Africa. Mr. Baralengwa soon learned that the gift c
South Africans May Spurn Free AIDS Drug From Pfizer: The Wall Street Journal - June 21, 2000; Michael Waldholz, Staff Reporter; It may seem churlish, but the South African government and some health officials are criticizing Pfizer Inc. s offer to give the country a powerful and expensive drug for treating a deadly AIDS-related infection. They say the gift is too restrictive to be of much benefit to the many thousands of people who need it.
Surprise Failure Dashes Hopes For Columbia Lab's HIV Product: The Wall Street Journal - June 16, 2000; Martha Brannigan and Ann Carrns, Staff Reporters; For almost 10 years, public-health workers have searched for a potent but simple-to-use vaginal cream to protect women, especially in the developing world, from contracting HIV. Earlier this week, hopes for the quick emergence of such a product were dashed when Columbia Laboratories Inc., a small Miami company, reporte
Spermicide Made by Columbia Labs Fails to Stop HIV in Clinical Trial: Wall Street Journal, Tuesday, June 13, 2000; Martha Brannigan, Staff Reporter; A clinical trial sponsored by the United Nations group UNAIDS , using 700 prostitutes in South Africa and other developing countries, has ended in bitter disappointment after about 100 women included in the study of Columbia Laboratories Inc. s spermicide contracted HIV. Researchers had hoped the spermicide would p
Cambodia's 'Beer Girls' Learn The Dark Side of Selling Brew: The Wall Street Journal - May 31, 2000; Samantha Marshall and Steve Stecklow, Staff Reporters; PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- At the bustling Shady Bamboo bar and restaurant, a flock of uniformed young women descends on arriving customers, each woman pitching a different beer. Uncle, uncle, please try my brand, they playfully plead. Tain Aeng is among them. Dressed in a bright blue blazer and miniskirt, with a badge th
AIDS Drug Plan Spurs Call To Cut Prices Elsewhere: The Wall Street Journal, Friday, May 12, 2000; Michael Waldholz and Gardiner Harris, Staff Reporters; An offer by five drug makers to slash their prices on AIDS medicines for African nations has added fuel to a world-wide debate over high drug prices and equal access for the poor to expensive medicines. The announcement Thursday sparked calls for a similar program to help the poor throughout the developing world. It al
Makers of AIDS Drugs Agree to Slash Prices in Third World: The Wall Street Journal - May 11, 2000; Michael Waldholz, Staff Reporter; In a landmark response to the AIDS crisis in Africa, five of the world s largest pharmaceutical companies offered to slash the prices of HIV drugs for people living in poor nations. The companies unprecedented joint agreement, which was announced by the United Nations Thursday, should make it possible for considerably
Pfizer Meeting Is Targeted by Protesters Angered by the Price of an AIDS Drug: The Wall Street Journal - April 28, 2000; Gardiner Harris, Staff Reporter; AIDS activists shouting Pfizer s Greed Kills tried to interrupt Pfizer Inc. s annual meeting Thursday at a New York City hotel, protesting the high price of the company s antifungal drug Diflucan, a life-saving therapy for many suffering from HIV infection. The 10 activists from ACT UP were forced down a back staircase
Pfizer Plans to Provide Diflucan Drug; For Free to South Africans With AIDS: The Wall Street Journal - April 3, 2000; Michael Waldholz, Staff Reporter; JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- Pfizer Inc. is expected Monday to tell the government here it will give away its expensive drug, Diflucan, to thousands of people in South Africa suffering from AIDS. The bold, surprising move is likely to spur other drug makers to launch drug giveaways and price reductions in developing n
Pfizer Considers Cutting Price of Drug, Pressured by AIDS Advocacy Groups: The Wall Street Journal - March 24, 2000; Michael Waldholz, Staff Reporter; NEW YORK -- Pfizer Inc., under growing pressure from AIDS advocacy groups, said it is considering demands to lower the price of its powerful antifungal drug, Diflucan, for patients in the developing world. The advocacy groups, including the international organization, Doctors Without Borders, have been urging the drug
AIDS Discovery Spurs Some to Challenge: A Patent Filing That Boosted HGS Stock: The Wall Street Journal - March 16, 2000; Michael Waldholz, Staff Reporter; At 8:13 a.m. on Feb. 16, a news release from Human Genome Sciences Inc. crossed the news wires, and instantly its shares began soaring in premarket trading. The company said it had just received a U.S. patent giving it commercial ownership of a gene that HIV, the AIDS virus, exploits when it infects a cell. The news ex
Drug Makers Test Easier-to-Use Once-a-Day Therapies for AIDS: The Wall Street Journal - February 3, 2000; Michael Waldholz, Staff Reporter; Several pharmaceuticals companies are attempting to improve the treatment of AIDS with new drugs, or versions of older medicines, that can be taken once a day. Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. said it is developing a powerful once-daily drug against AIDS that could serve as an anchor in a therapy that would be much easier to u
Briefly Halting AIDS Medication May Strengthen Immune System: The Wall Street Journal - February 1, 2000; Michael Waldholz, Staff Reporter; Early evidence is emerging that temporarily stopping AIDS-drug therapy might actually help some patients strengthen their immune systems to better fight the AIDS virus. This is one of the more intriguing and controversial issues being addressed at a major AIDS science meeting this week in San Francisco. Several new but
Health: Researchers Find Compounds That May Lead to AIDS Drug: The Wall Street Journal - January 28, 2000; Michael Waldholz, Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal; Researchers at Merck & Co. have solved a riddle that for years has blocked drug makers from developing a potentially important type of drug against AIDS. The Merck scientists are reporting in the journal Science Friday that they have found two experimental compounds that in laboratory tests were able to obstruct th
Health: New Report Charts Change In Demographics of AIDS: Wall Street Journal - January 14, 2000; Michael Waldholz, Staff Reporter of the Wall Street Journal; The racial face of AIDS in America is changing dramatically. The federal government will report Friday that, for the first time, men of color now represent the largest number of AIDS cases among men who have homosexual sex. As of the end of 1998, African-Americans, Latinos and other minorities represented 52% of AIDS c

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©1980, 2000. AEGiS.