CONSENSUS STATEMENT: AIDS GROUPS SEEK BETTER RESEARCH PRIORITIES

Over 45 major AIDS and health organizations (see list below)
have endorsed a consensus statement, "HIV/AIDS Biomedical
Research Priorities: Recommendations to the National Institutes
of Health." Some of the highlights:

* Three areas of HIV research -- prevention, treatment, and
health care must all be strengthened.

* Of all the research proposals approved for funding by NIH
peer review, only 24 percent are actually funded, due to lack of
money. This proportion should be raised to 40-50 percent, as in
was in the early 1970s.

* Three particular areas singled out for increased funding
include community-based research, the National Cooperative Drug
Discovery Groups for Opportunistic Infections, and NIH salary
levels and training grants.

* Improved coordination of AIDS/HIV research is needed,
through the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

* The ACTG (AIDS Clinical Trials Group) should focus on
(small) technology-intensive phase I/II studies, with more new
compounds than tested in the past. Larger, later trials should
be sponsored by pharmaceutical companies, through community-
based or other research groups.

Other recommendations concern focus on opportunistic
infections, a national AIDS research database on disease
progression, outreach to excluded groups, trials and other
research concerning women and children, methodological research
to improve trial designs, acceptance and implementation of the
"parallel track" (see article above), community advisory panels
at each ACTG site, publication of NIH guidelines for state-of-
the-art medical care, NIH help to researchers in speedy
dissemination of their results, full disclosure of all consulting
or equity relationships between pharmaceutical companies and
researchers involved in setting national AIDS research
priorities, and reimbursement for the cost of standard medical
care associated with trials by Medicare, Medicaid, or private
insurance.

The organizations endorsing the consensus statement are:

AID Atlanta
AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts
AIDS Action Council
AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP)/NY
AIDS Foundation of Chicago
AIDS National Interfaith Network
AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA)
American Academy of Pediatrics
American Anthropological Association's Task Force on AIDS
American Association for Counseling and Development
American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
American Foundation for AIDS Research (AmFAR)
American Red Cross
Association of Schools of Public Health
Center for Women's Policy Studies
Child Welfare League of America
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Information Institute, Inc.
Citizen's Commission on AIDS
Coalition for Compassion/Los Angeles
Community Research Initiative (CRI)/New York
Consortium of Social Science Associations
Dallas Gay Alliance/AIDS Resource Center
Federation of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays
Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC)/New York
Human Rights Campaign Fund (HRCF)
International Association of Fire Fighters
Lambda Legal Defense & Education Fund
Minority Task Force on AIDS/New York
Mobilization Against AIDS/San Francisco
National AIDS Network (NAN)
National Assembly of State Arts Agencies
National Association of Community Health Centers, Inc.
National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA)
National Association of Protection and Advocacy Systems
National Association of Social Workers
National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
National Hemophilia Foundation
National Minority AIDS Council
National Network of Runaway and Youth Services
Pediatric AIDS Foundation
People With AIDS (PWA) Health Group/New York
Planned Parenthood Federation of America
Project Inform/San Francisco
San Francisco AIDS Foundation
Synagogue Council of America
Women and AIDS Resource Network (WARN)/NY


Copies of the recommendations can be obtained from the AIDS
Action Council (212/293-2886), or from the American Foundation
for AIDS Research (212/719-0712, ask for Spencer Cox).

Note: We consider this consensus statement an excellent summary
of improvements needed in AIDS research.