Local News in Brief : AIDS Treatment Tests
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The Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center is launching the first nationwide study of a new treatment for the AIDS-related infection pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP).
PCP is the leading cause of death in people with acquired immune deficiency syndrome, occurring in 70% of AIDS patients.
The treatment involves the anti-cancer drug trimetrexate, which will be combined with a second medication that neutralizes some of its potentially toxic effects.
In the laboratory, scientists have found that trimetrexate is about 1,500 times as potent against PCP than the currently licensed drug used to treat the infection.
The study will involve about 700 AIDS patients with moderate to severe PCP. Half will be treated with trimetrexate-leucovorin and the other half will receive standard therapy.
The pharmaceutical firm Warner-Lambert Co. will provide drugs for the study.
