Los Angeles, New York, Stanford University: HBY 097, New Drug May Weaken HIV

A new drug which in laboratory tests greatly weakens virus which becomes resistant to it has entered an early human trial at sites in Los Angeles, in New York, and at Stanford University, near San Francisco. This three-month study will randomly assign volunteers to either the new drug (called HBY 097, developed by Hoechst-Roussel/Bayer), to AZT, or the combination. Three different doses of HBY 097 will be tested, starting with the smallest dose, and escalating if the smaller doses are found to be safe. This important study will also use new technology to simultaneously measure all mutations which develop in the HIV reverse transcriptase enzyme, which is the target of this drug.

Because this study focuses especially on new mutations of the virus, volunteers must not have received any approved HIV treatment before. They must have a CD4 (T-helper) count between 200 and 500.

For more information, call the trial site in your location. In Los Angeles, call the site at USC, 213/343-8288; in New York, call the NYU site at 212/263-8707; or in the San Francisco area, call the Stanford site at 415/723-6231. (Note: Accrual might not yet have started at all sites.)