[Release: NIAID to Evaluate Safety of Giving AZT to Pregnant Women] Page: 1 of 6
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National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
Update
FOR RELEASE Elaine Baldwin
July 10, 1989 (301) 496-5717
NIAID TO EVALUATE SAFETY OF GIVING AZT TO PREGNANT WOMEN
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases is sponsoring a new clinical
trial to evaluate the safety of AZT in pregnant women who are infected with the human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the cause of AIDS. The study is the first step toward
determining whether AZT given during pregnancy can prevent transmission of HIV from
mothers to their newborn babies. AZT (zidovudine) is the only approved anti-HIV drug for
the treatment of AIDS patients.
The Phase I study, which will be conducted at the University of Miami and the UCLA
School of Medicine in Los Angeles, will assess the safety and pharmacokinetics (drug levels
and absorption) of intravenous and oral AZT administered to HIV-infected asymptomatic
women during the last trimester of pregnancy and at delivery. The investigators will
evaluate 10 such women and their infants. This information is needed before further studies
can be conducted to evaluate AZT's effectiveness in reducing the rate of HIV transmission.
More than 1,600 cases of AIDS in children have been reported since 1981, and at least
two or three times that many are estimated to be infected with HIV. A small proportion of
these children were infected by HIV-contaminated blood or blood products. However, more
than 80 percent of pediatric AIDS cases result from transmission of HIV from pregnant
women to their unborn children, and their numbers are rising steeply.
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National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease. [Release: NIAID to Evaluate Safety of Giving AZT to Pregnant Women], text, July 10, 1989; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc915767/m1/1/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.