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In January of 1987 a panel of 11 AIDS doctors were asked to approve the drug by the FDA based upon this research. Several of the doctors on the panel felt uneasy about approving the drug for use among AIDS patients. As one panel member, Ithzak Brooks, said, "The data is just too premature, and the statistics are not really well done. The drug could actually be detrimental" (Farber 2). The study, which was supposed to be conducted for 11 months, was stopped after just six months (Burkett 5). No long term side effects of the drug were known. Furthermore, three months after the study ended, thirteen more of the placebo patients died after being put on the AZT drug, and seven deaths occurred among those who had been taking AZT for the entire time (5). Moreover, the research was supposed to be conducted in a double blind manner (5). In other words, neither the patient nor the doctor was supposed to know whether an individual was receiving the placebo or the actual drug. However, doctors and patients alike were aware of which group the patient belonged to--this occurred for two reasons. First, AZT causes severe damage to bone marrow cells, which means that patients taking the drug must undergo blood transfusions in order to stay healthy (Farber 8). Patients taking the placebo would not have to undergo the same treatment because no damage was being done to their bone marrow cells. In addition, a routine blood count, known as CMV, clearly shows who is on the drug, and this information was never whited out on the patients" charts given to the doctors conducting the research (8). .
Despite these flaws, and after much debate, the drug was approved by the panel faster than any other drug in FDA history, under certain restrictions and promises agreed to by Burroughs-Wellcome. The drug was to be given only to very sick AIDS patients, and a two-year follow up study was to be done (p. 8). However, these restrictions were not heeded, and the promises were not kept.
AIDS IN AFRICA AIDS is the number one cause of death in Africa and the fourth globally (Mayell 27). AIDS is a disease caused by HIV-a virus that attacks the white blood cells of the body, which help fight off infections. AIDS breaks down the body's immune system. AIDS is technically known as ...
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are azidohymindine (AZT) and dideoxyinosine (DDI). "AZT interferes with the virus replication and has been found to prolong life significantly in some patients and delay the onset of full-blown AIDS in persons with no symptoms, but its potentially toxic side effects may preclude uses in many cases. DDI acts similarly but is recommended for those who cannot tolerate AZT." ...
The most promising drug is one called AZT (Zidovudine). AZT prevents reverse transcriptase making DNA from RNA, which thus prevent HIV from making viral DNA from viral RNA so it is not inserted into the host cells DNA to form the provirus. ...
Aids in the 20th Century Aids are a fatal plague that is increasingly killing our society. Aids are an impairment of the body's ability to fight disease. It is acquired, not inherited. (Gong p. 24) It caused by two groups called retroviruses. The groups infect white blood cells and helper ce...
Drugs such as AZT can limit the risk of transferring HIV to the fetus through birth, being one third of the children with AIDS acquire the virus from their infected mothers. ... Drugs such as ZDV, AZT and 3TC have been proven highly effective in prolonging victim's lives. ...
The problem now is how to identify HIV-infected pregnant women at an early enough stage, so that the use of AZT could drastically reduce the chances of the baby being born with HIV. ... It is certain that those who test positive and accept treatment with AZT would have a decreased transmission rate, but according to some, this notion takes into account only the child and not the mother. ...
