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 AIDS TREATMENT NEWS Issue #250, July 5, 1996
    phone 800/TREAT-1-2, or 415/255-0588
 CONTENTS:
 Cryptosporidiosis: NTZ at Buyers' Club; Customs Holds
 Second Shipment
 NAC: First Controlled Trial, Positive Results
 Nevirapine Approved
 Vancouver Conference: Each Day Summarized Nightly on
 World Wide Web
 SCIENCE Publishes Major AIDS Issue June 28; Full Text on Web
 CMV Retinitis and Treatment: CME Course on World Wide Web
 Delavirdine Expanded Access Program Information on
 World Wide Web
 West Hollywood: AIDS and Chinese Medicine Conference,
 July 25-28
 Neuropathy: Nutrient Therapies
 World Wide Web: AIDS TREATMENT NEWS Lists Over 100 Sites
 ***** Cryptosporidiosis: NTZ Available at Buyers' Club; 
 Customs Holds 2nd Shipment
 NTZ (nitazoxanide), an experimental drug which may be the 
 first effective treatment against cryptosporidiosis (which 
 causes severe diarrhea in persons with AIDS) was recently 
 approved in Mexico, and for the first time is now available 
 at a U.S. AIDS buyers' club, the PWA Health Group in New 
 York. An officially approved compassionate access program 
 recently was expanded from 100 to 150 slots. But for weeks 
 many people who desperately needed this drug found it 
 impossible to obtain, no matter how well connected they were. 
 The PWA Health Group recently called people on its long list 
 to buy NTZ, and found that half of them had died.
 NTZ is inexpensive to manufacture, and is being studied for 
 treating many parasites in developing countries. In the U.S., 
 it is in phase I trials for cryptosporidiosis.
 On June 21 a U.S. Customs office seized half of the PWA 
 Health Group shipment of NTZ. Because such cases happen 
 frequently and are usually resolved fairly rapidly, the PWA 
 Health Group suggests that people contact them concerning how 
 they might help if necessary. The shipment may have already 
 been released by the time you receive this newsletter.
 Meanwhile the PWA Health Group has enough NTZ to treat about 
 50 people. They require a doctor's prescription for this 
 drug. To obtain a fact sheet on NTZ, to order the drug, or to 
 offer to help politically if necessary, contact the PWA 
 Health Group at 212/255-0520.
 ***** NAC: First Controlled Trial, Positive Results
 by John S. James
 NAC (N-acetylcysteine), a low-cost potential treatment 
 approved for certain non-HIV medical uses, has for years been 
 one of the most popular "alternative" treatments sold by the 
 AIDS buyers' clubs in the U.S. For many years researchers 
 have had well-designed research protocols ready to go to 
 scientifically test whether NAC can be helpful in HIV 
 infection, but finding the funds for this work has been 
 extraordinarily difficult. The first controlled trial started 
 in late 1993 at Stanford University; now its results have 
 been publicly reported at the May 21-24, 1996 meeting 
 OXIDATIVE STRESS AND REDOX REGULATION: CELLULAR SIGNALING, 
 AIDS, CANCER, AND OTHER DISEASES, at the Institut Pasteur in 
 Paris.(1)
 Although the design of this study was too limited to tell 

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