Dallas Voice (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 6, No. 19, Ed. 1 Friday, September 8, 1989 Page: 3 of 36
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This Week
NEWS 3
Major drug trial awarded to Nelson
Tebedo Clinic; AANfaces unexpected
funding shortfall. Geren, Lanier
compared on AIDS
PROFILE 5
A provocative interview with Holly
Near, who performs in Garland on
Sunday.
CALENDAR 8
Events scheduled over the next ten
days; Announcements; Team Dallas
update
ART 10
Art and AIDS: A fascinating exhibit
on display at Ohio State University.
FOCUS 14
State spending on AIDS contrasted,
compared.
FILM 16
Finally, real people movies!
LIFESTYLE 21
Reports from the trenches: Women's
festivals in Oklahoma, Michigan.
THEATER 24
A review of Steel Magnolias, ’ onstage
at the Plaza; DIFFA plans Heart
Strings. ’
GOSSIP 32
A short course in world history, com
pliments of Heda!
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VOICE
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Robert Moore Dennis Vercher
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First major AIDS drug
research comes to Dallas
STUDY TO GET UNDERWAY WITHIN WEEKS AT NELS0N-TEBED0 CLINIC
By DENNIS VERCHER
A large scale study testing the effi
cacy and optimum dosage of a
combination therapy of AZT and
acyclovir will begin within three
weeks at the Nelson-Tebedo Community
Clinic for AIDS Research, officials announced
yesterday.
The two-year study, sponsored by Bur
roughs Wellcome Pharmaceutical Co., will
involve up to 600 local volunteers as pan of
an even largr, multi-center trial of the ex
perimental combination therapy. Burroughs
Wellcome, an international firm with domes
tic offices in Research Triangle Park, North
Carolina, manufactures both drugs, market-
ing AZT as Retrovir and acyclovir as Zovirax.
The study signals the start up of the
Nelson Tebedo Clinic’s research component,
which was announced earlier this year. In
June, the clinic began offering the ELISA and
Western Blot antibody tests on an anonymous
basis at cost. On Wednesday, the clinic began
offering other laboratory work, including
CBC, certain blood chemistry tests and a T 4
and T-8 Ivmphocite count, also at cost.
Clinic officals were elated with the final
decision by the pharmaceutical company to
place a component of its research at a Dallas
facility. “It does provide some hope for
persons living with AIDS, that they can now
participate in research in Dallas without
having to travel of move," stated John
Thomas, executive director of the AIDS
Resource Center, which maintains a contract
relationship with the NeLson Tebedo Clinic.
Both institutions are operated by the Dallas
Gay Alliance.
“A first study silences disbelievers, and it
shows that not only AmFAR but now an actual
drug company doing research sees the
Nelson Tebedo Clinic as playing an impor
tant role in AIDS research,” Thomas stated.
Earlier thisyear, the American Foundation for
AIDS Research (AmFAR) provided a $100,000
gram to help establish the Dallas clinic.
Although clinic officials have worked in the
past several months to persuade pharmaceu
tical manufacturers to contract with the Dallas
community facility for drug research, the
current study came rather suddenly because
Burroughs Wellcome was unable to procure
adequate participation at longstanding AIDS
research centers located in other parts of the
AIDS Resource Center director
John Thomas . . . says the study
‘does provide hope for persons
living with AIDS, that they can
now participate in research in
Dallas without having to travel or
move.’
country.
“They [Burroughs-Wellcome] were not
getting the response they wanted [from pro-
spective study participants], and they needed
some new sites. They knew we were inter-
ested and they gave us a call,” explained
clinic coordinator Gloria Goodwin, R.N.
In addition, stated Dallas Gay Alliance
president William Wayboum, Dallas is re
garded as “fertile territory" for AIDS drug
research since so few AIDS studies have been
conducted in Texas. Prospective subjects in
Dallas have had little access to other experi
mental medications which may preclude
their participation in the current research, he
said.
“Burroughs-Wellcome came and liked our
patent profiles and were very impressed,"
Wayboum stated. “We re considered fertile
territory for research because so little has
been done here."
Burroughs Wellcome has, on two occa
sions, unsuccessfully attempted to persuade
the University of Texas Southwestern Medical
Center to become a site for the company’s
drug related research.
The Nelson Tebedo Clinic is now begin
ning to recruit volunteers to participate in the
study. Patients will be considered who have
recovered from a first AIDS-defining infection
within 120 days of entering the study who
may have received no more than 1 year of AZT
To determine if you may
be eligible to participate
in the study, see the
summary of qualifying
factors printed on page 26.
therapy. (For additional details on qualifying
factors for study participation, see the shaded
block on Page 26.)
The study will involve four component
groups or “arms.” and volunteers will be
randomly placed in each arm. Volunteers in
two arms of the study will take the combina-
tion AZT-acyclovir therapy, with one group
taking 500 milligrams of AZT and 4.000
milligrams of acyclovir daily and another
group taking 1,000 mg. of AZT and 4,000 mg.
of acyclovir daily. The other two arms have
been designed as the study's control group.
In these two arms, volunteers will take either
500 mg. or 1.000 mg. of AZT daily but will not
take acyclovir. At the conclusion of the re-
search, scientists will determine whether
volunteers taking the combined therapy fared
significantly better than those taking AZT
alone.
The study can begin “as soon as we
complete all the forms and sign all the
documents with Burroughs-Wellcome.”
Goodwin said, projecting that the study will
actually get underway by late September.
“They [Burroughs-Wellcome] would like to
get started as soon as possible."
To participate, prospective volunteers must
be referred by their primary-care physicians.
Persons who are interested in joining the
study “need to have an attending physician.
They need to approach their artending physi-
cian and ask him about being included in the
study,” Goodwin said.
Prospective participants can obtain flyers
Goodwin has prepared providing details
about the study by stopping by the clinic,
located at 4012 Cedar Springs Road (adjacent
to the AIDS Resource Center).
Clinic officials also have scheduled a
community informational meeting to discuss
the study. Because officials expect a high
attendance, they ask that individuals check
over the list of requirements in advance and
attend only if they believe they are qualified
to participate. The meeting will be held at 7
p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 19 at Metropolitan
Community Church, 2701 Reagan.
Individual eligibility for the study will be
evaluated in two sessions by means of a
patient history, physical examination and
laboratory tests. Study volunteers will be
briefed regarding details of the study and will
have the opportunity to ask questions.
If accepted into the study, volunteers will
be required to return to the clinic on a bi-
weekly basis for the first four weeks, then
monthly thereafter. Laboratory work will be
conducted at each visit.
All medications and lab work will be
provided by Burroughs Wellcome at no cost
to the volunteer.
A previous, small-scale study indicated that
CONTINUED ON PAGE 26
3
TIE DALLAS VOICE/SEPTEMBER 8 1989
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Vercher, Dennis. Dallas Voice (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 6, No. 19, Ed. 1 Friday, September 8, 1989, newspaper, September 8, 1989; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth615884/m1/3/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.