Correction: Paying for AZT

A note in our last issue on a Federal program to help persons pay for AZT erroneously stated that the only medical
qualification required was a valid prescription from one's doctor. The correct information is that persons will have to
meet the FDA guidelines for use of AZT, which generally means either having had pneumocystis, or having T-helper cells under 200 and having ARC symptoms.
The person who brought the story to our attention had heard the wrong information from a California state office; he
was the first of several to inform us of the correction. We have heard that the confusion resulted from the fact that the
Federal law itself does not require the FDA guidelines. But states have the right to insist on them, and they will do so in
order to protect themselves from possible lawsuits.
For an overview on the different medical practices on the use of AZT, see "Doctors Stretching Rules on AIDS Drug", New York Times December 21 1987, p. 1.