ST501020%BROWNVM.BITNET@oac.ucla.edu (Bill Jesdale) (07/04/90)
I am looking for information about how many people stop
azt therapy, and why. How long does viral resistance
sufficient to warrant stopping azt take to set in?
How long does it take for side effects to make the
drug intolerable? How many people stop taking the
drug after political realizations about the
Burroughs-Wellcome Company?Basically, how many
people stop taking azt, and after how long?
An editorial in the Providence Journal indicated
that Dr. Douglas Richman of UC San Diego found that viral
resistance to azt seems to develop within six months.
I would appreciate a published reference to Dr. Richman's
work. Looking for info on the topic, I found an article
dating from Dec 1, '89 in Science by BA Larder et al.
which states:
Most isolates from patients with AIDS or ARC
who were treated for 6 months or more showed
reduced sensitivity to zidovudine [azt],
whereas isolates from untreated individuals
and those treated for less than 6 months
showed uniform sensitivity to the drug.
While the study indicates that, in its small population,
resistance to azt built up relatively quickly, I'm not
sure that this means that the resistance was strong
enough to make treatment with azt useless after 6, 12,
18 months or longer. Perhaps someone can shed light on
this problem.
Be well and stay strong,
Bill Jesdale, ActUp/RI & RI Dep't of Health
Box 5342, Brown U, Prov, RI 02912 Ph: 401/421-4687
st501020@BROWNVM