FDA Hearings: For More Information

The most authoritative information about each of the three protease inhibitors now approved is the package insert for each drug. Incidentally, Merck is planning to work with the FDA to develop a patient's version of the package insert for indinavir.

Later, a full transcript and also a summary of each advisory committee hearing will be available from the FDA.

Probably the most in-depth public information at this time about the protease inhibitors is available through Jules Levin's National AIDS Treatment Advocacy Project; it includes a review of each clinical trial of the drugs, and the resulting data. If you have a World Wide Web browser, you can receive it immediately at http://www.natap.org/. Jules can also be reached by email at JuLev@aol.com, or day or evening by phone at 718/624-8541 or by fax at 718/624-8399. His mailing address is NATAP, 72 Orange Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201.

In addition to information from these recent hearings, NATAP also has a 45-page booklet on the five protease inhibitors likely to be the first available -- saquinavir (Roche), ritonavir (Abbott), indinavir (Merck), nelfinavir (Agouron), and VX478 (Vertex / Glaxo Wellcome). Also available is a 4-hour videotape of NATAP's community forum on protease inhibitors, January 6, 1996, in New York.

Note: As this issue went to press, NATAP announced a free community forum on protease inhibitors in Los Angeles, April 13, 1996, from 1:00 p.m. to 4:40 p.m. in the Paramount Theater, 5555 Melrose Ave. (enter at Bronson St. gate). This event is also sponsored by Kraus Medical Partners, and Being Alive -- and co-sponsored by 17 other AIDS organizations. For reservations, call 800/238-7828, ext. 8145. For more information, contact NATAP at the above computer addresses, fax number, or phone number.