AIDS TREATMENT NEWS Issue #359, January 26, 2001
phone 800-TREAT-1-2, or 215-985-4448

CONTENTS:

** Retroviruses Conference: Live Telephone Report Feb. 7
Hear a toll-free one-hour summary from the major scientific
AIDS conference of 2001, from experts who can answer your
questions -- or hear a recording of the call later.

** First HIV Vaccine for Africa Begins Trials
The first vaccine designed for an HIV strain prevalent in
Africa is about to begin human trials.

** African Americans and AIDS Conference, Feb. 19-20,
Washington, D.C.: Fauci, Gayle, Primm, Other Speakers
We list some of the major talks at this year's conference
on African Americans and AIDS, which was announced with
short notice.

** United Nations AIDS Session: Email Input Sought
Nonprofits and others have been invited to contribute to
preparation for the United Nations General Assembly Special
Session on AIDS, through an online forum available
throughout the world.

** March 5: "Global Day of Action against Drug Company
Profiteering," as Pharmaceutical Companies Sue South Africa
to Block Low-Cost Medicines
Worldwide protests are planned as international
pharmaceutical companies sue South Africa to block post-
apartheid medicine reforms.

** Africa Treatment Access: Contact President, Congress on
Africa Executive Order
The Bush Administration is considering whether to revoke
current U.S. policy not to retaliate against African
countries which seek affordable AIDS medicines through
World Trade Organization rules -- unless they also meet
additional intellectual-property restrictions which U.S.
pharmaceutical companies want.

** News Flash: Brazil; South Africa Lawsuit Letter

** Hepatitis C, Co-Infection Information Recommended
A leading activist particularly recommends two Web sites.

** AIDS TREATMENT NEWS Contacts, Schedule Update
New direct phone number, fax and email update.

** San Francisco Data Show HIV Rates Still Rising, Experts
Say
The best available information shows a continuing increase
in the proportion of HIV-negative gay and bisexual men who
become infected each year -- with those over age 25 at
greater risk than those under 25.


***** Retroviruses Conference: Live Telephone Report Feb. 7

A free one-hour telephone conference with a panel of
leading physicians, allowing you to ask questions, will
report highlights of the important Retroviruses conference
(8th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic
Infections, February 4-8, 2001, in Chicago). The call will
take place February 7, 2001, 5 p.m. Pacific / 6 p.m.
Mountain / 7 p.m. Central / 8 p.m. Eastern time; to
participate, you need to register in advance.

The panelists will be:

* Calvin Cohen, M.D., Research Director, Community Research
Initiative of New England, and HIV Consultant, Harvard
Vanguard Medical Associates;

* David Cooper, M.D., Professor of Medicine and Director,
National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research,
University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia;

* Steven Deeks, M.D., San Francisco General Hospital AIDS
Program;

* Roy Gulick, M.D., Director, Cornell University Clinical
Trials Unit, New York City;

* Michael Saag, M.D., Professor of Medicine, Division of
Infectious Diseases, University of Alabama at Birmingham
(UAB) and Director of the AIDS Outpatient Clinic at UAB;
and

* Ron Baker, Ph.D. (moderator), Editor-in-Chief, HIV and
Hepatitis.com

To register and get the phone number and instructions for
calling, call 1-800-880-5121 between 8:30 a.m. and 5:30
p.m. Eastern time, Monday through Friday.

Later, you can hear a recording of the call, by calling 1-
888-207-2647 and entering passcode 5253.

Note: For more in-depth information during and after the
conference, there will be many reports on the Web, and on
treatment email lists; we will also cover some of the
presentations in the next two issues of AIDS TREATMENT
NEWS. The telephone briefing provides a convenient
overview, and allows live questions of the panelists.


***** First HIV Vaccine for Africa Begins Trials

On January 27 IAVI (the International AIDS Vaccine
Initiative) announced that the first HIV vaccine designed
specifically for Africa will begin human trials, after
approval by the government of Kenya. From the IAVI
announcement:

"The preventive vaccine candidate is based upon subtype A
of HIV, the most common strain in East Africa. The vaccine
candidate is the product of an International AIDS Vaccine
Initiative-funded partnership between the research teams of
the Medical Research Council's Human Immunology Unit at
Oxford University in the United Kingdom and the University
of Nairobi.

"It will be tested in a new, state of the art research
facility at the University of Nairobi, which was officially
opened by Kenya's Minister of Public Health, the Hon.
Professor Sam K. Ongeri, in December. Recruitment for the
trial began in December, and several of the 18 volunteers
needed for the Phase I trial have already been screened.

"The partners also announced a new agreement under which
all existing and future patents covering the vaccine
candidate will be owned jointly by the Medical Research
Council, the University of Nairobi and the International
AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI). The partners agreed to use
their patent ownership to help ensure access to a
successful AIDS vaccine in Kenya and in other developing
countries."

In other vaccine news, on January 29 Bill Gates gave a $100
million "challenge grant" (to be matched by other
contributions) to IAVI, to develop this or other AIDS
vaccines. Internet company Yahoo! then contributed $5
million.


***** African Americans and AIDS Conference, Feb. 19-20,
Washington, D.C.: Fauci, Gayle, Primm, Other Speakers

The 2001 National Conference on African Americans and AIDS
will take place February 19-20, 2001 at the Washington D.C.
Renaissance Hotel, 999 9th Street NW, Washington D.C. Due
to the late notice this year, registrations will be
accepted at the door, and conference organizers are
determined that no one will be turned away.

This conference comes shortly after news of disastrous
rates of HIV infection among gay African Americans and
other minorities. An epidemiological study in New York City
found HIV infection rate now more than 10 times as high
among African Americans than among whites (33% vs. 2%) in
gay men age 23-29. The researchers found no behavioral risk
factor which could explain the difference. The study, by L.
Torian and others, will be presented at the Retroviruses
conference in early February; a report appeared February 24
in New York Newsday.

Program of February 19-20 Conference

The current program includes:
* Sandra L. Thurman: Africa Update
* Special guest speaker: topic to be announced
* Eric P. Goosby, M.D.: A Bridge to Common Experiences
* Elaine M. Daniels, M.D., Ph.D.: The Epidemiology of HIV
in the United States
* John G. Bartlett, M.D., and Eric P. Goosby, M.D.: The
Kaiser Family Foundation/U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services Treatment Guidelines [new guidelines, to be
released in early February].
* Valerie Stone, M.D.: The Clinical Management of the
HIV/AIDS Patient
* Robert C. Gallo, M.D.: New Approaches to Therapy
* Working lunch: panel, with Phill Wilson moderator
* Anthony S. Fauci, M.D.: Drug Holidays, Structured
Treatment Interruptions, and Structured Intermittent
Therapy
* Jonathan Zenilman, M.D. and Celia J. Maxwell, M.D.
F.A.C.P.: Men, Women, and Sexually Transmitted Diseases
* David L. Thomas, M.D., J.D.: Hepatitis and HIV
* Henry "Skip" Francis, M.D.: Legal and Illegal Drug Use
* Cornelius Baker: topic to be announced
* Robert Fullilove III, Ph.D.: Does Culture Affect
Adherence?
* Helene Gayle, M.D., Ph.D.: The Life
Initiative/Epidemiology -- A Focus on Africa
* Beny J. Primm, M.D.: Special remarks
* Jean R. Anderson, M.D., and Lynne Mofenson, M.D.:
Pregnancy, Birth, and HIV Transmission
* Speaker to be announced: Women's Issues
* Deborah Parham, M.D.: Ryan White and the Challenge of
Africa
* Working lunch: panel, focus on women with female partners
* Glenn J. Triesman, M.D., Ph.D.: Psychiatric Issues
* William H Ruby, M.D.: Incarcerated Populations
* Phill Wilson: topic to be announced
* Stephen B. Thomas, Ph.D.: Closing Remarks

Registration

Registration: There is no fee to register, and the
registration desk will remain open through the conference.
It is best to register early, by contacting Stacey Everett
at Firehouse Event Planning, phone 609-936-1966, fax 609-
936-0479.

Continuing education credit: 16 hours Category One, no fee.

Funding

This program is funded through unrestricted educational
grants provided by:
* Bristol-Myers Squibb Company
* GlaxoSmithKline
* The Body.Com
* The U.S Health Resources Services Administration HIV/AIDS
Bureau
* Serono Laboratories, Inc.
* OraSure Technologies, Inc.
* Roche

Comment

At a time of growing problems around the pharmaceutical
industry and its relationship to individual and public
health goals, the program stands out as a clear success.
For the first two years it was funded entirely by Bristol-
Myers Squibb; this year funding is from multiple sources.

Yes, the conference serves a marketing purpose, since more
attention on this issue will probably result in more
African Americans with HIV receiving medical care -- and
some of them will use the sponsors' high-profit
antiretrovirals. But here the corporate purpose is
consistent with the public goal of getting people with HIV
into medical care, so that they and their doctors can make
informed decisions about what treatment, if any, to begin.
In this case, public and commercial goals coincide.


***** United Nations AIDS Session: Email Input Sought

Civil society throughout the world (including nonprofits
and businesses, especially in developing countries) has
been invited to participate in a United Nations General
Assembly Special Session on HIV and AIDS, June 25-27, 2001.
For most organizations it will be difficult to participate
in person, but they can join a special email discussion
forum set up to hear information and views in preparation
for the official meeting. The best time to join the email
discussion is now, because important preliminary meetings
will take place at the end of February.

* For more information about the United Nations special
session see http://www.unaids.org; also see
http://www.hdnet.org (Health and Development Networks,
which "has been commissioned by UNAIDS to help ensure that
NGO and community voices are channeled, in a transparent
way, into the UN General Assembly special session on
HIV/AIDS").

* One possible way to participate in person is through the
official delegation of your government. Also, some
nonprofit organizations already have official status at the
United Nations, and your group might be able to work
through them.

* To join the online discussion group at any time, send an
email to: break-the-silence@... The best time for
participation may be February, since a meeting to organize
the agenda will take place later this month.

Comment

We have heard unofficially that although the United Nations
session itself is in June, the content is likely to be
mostly set by then, so the most important times for
participation will be earlier, especially before February
26 - March 2, and April 23 - 27, which are informal
consultations for government delegates. These meetings will
take place in New York, and civil society organizations
might or might not be able to address the delegates.

For most organizations, the email discussion group will be
the most accessible way to participate.


***** March 5: "Global Day of Action against Drug Company
Profiteering," as Pharmaceutical Companies Sue South Africa
to Block Low-Cost Medicines

by John S. James

On March 5 a lawsuit by several dozen international
pharmaceutical companies against the government of South
Africa is scheduled to go to trial. For three years already
this lawsuit has prevented South Africa from implementing
post-Apartheid reform of its medicine laws. The case has
been little known in the U.S., except for a flurry of
publicity for the pharmaceutical companies when they said
they were suspending it. South Africans pointed out that
suspending the lawsuit (instead of dropping it) still left
them unable to implement their medicine-law reforms -- and
that the companies could resume the case at any time.

On January 19 the Treatment Action Campaign, the leading
AIDS activist organization in South Africa, called for
global day of mobilization and protests on March 5, to
bring attention to the lawsuit and the issues behind it.
For more information, and initial U.S. contacts for
activists, see below.

South African Law at Issue

The companies' major objection is a short part of the law,
Section 15C, which we quote in full:

The minister may prescribe conditions for the supply of
more affordable medicines in certain circumstances so as to
protect the health of the public, and in particular may-

(a) notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in
the Patents Act, 1978 (Act No. 57 of 1978), determine that
the rights with regard to any medicine under a patent
granted in the Republic shall not extend to acts in respect
of such medicine which has been put onto the market by the
owner of the medicine, or with his or her consent;

(b) prescribe the conditions on which any medicine which is
identical in composition, meets the same quality standard
and is intended to have the same proprietary name as that
of another medicine already registered in the Republic, but
which is imported by a person other than the person who is
the holder of the registration certificate of the medicine
already registered and which originates from any site of
manufacture of the original manufacturer as approved by the
council in the prescribed manner, may be imported:

(c) prescribe the registration procedure for, as well as
the use of, the medicine referred to in paragraph (b).

[Apparently paragraph (b) refers primarily to parallel
importing of medicines made by the patent holder and sold
by the patent holder at discount elsewhere in the world. A
major problem in drug pricing is that large countries and
insurance plans can negotiate discounts, while smaller
countries and individuals often pay much more.]

Comment

The pharmaceutical companies object that Section 15C does
not protect their medicine patent rights. The whole
continent of Africa accounts for less than 1.5% of the
global market in pharmaceuticals, and the companies have
made little effort to market their expensive medications
there. Most observers believe that these companies are less
worried about loss of income from Africa than about the
creation of precedents which might hurt them elsewhere --
especially in the United States, where huge amounts of
drugs are sold at some of the worlds' highest prices, as
the government does not require or negotiate pharmaceutical
prices for its citizens, as governments of other
industrialized countries do.

Last year 2.4 million people died of HIV infection in
Africa; fewer than one in a thousand Africans infected with
HIV get modern treatment. The companies have responded with
much-criticized discount programs, to be negotiated
separately for each country, almost certainly in return for
the countries giving up rights to use generic equivalents
or other measures which could save the lives of their
citizens. These negotiations are some of the most unequal
in history, since delays can cost the countries the lives
of thousands of people, while the companies have nothing to
lose from delay except for the risk of looking bad in the
media. Recently the former deputy director of UNICEF called
these negotiations "a farce; they redefine the meaning of
bad faith" ("J'accuse!: The West is willfully turning its
back on the greatest human tragedy of our age," by Stephen
Lewis, THE GLOBE AND MAIL, Canada, January 26, 2001).

TAC Call for Global Day of Action against Drug Company
Profiteering

[Note: We omitted some sections specific to South Africa,
and marked the omissions with '...'.]

Mobilize Globally and Locally against Drug Company Power!
Produce Generic Antiretrovirals!
Increase Health and Welfare Spending!

2001 promises to be one of the most critical years for
access to HIV/AIDS treatments. In South Africa, the year
will witness attempts by multinational drug companies to
take the South African government to court for trying to
make medicines affordable for all people. TAC will continue
its Christopher Moraka Defiance Campaign against Unjust
Trade Laws and Patent Abuse. TAC will demand that the
government increase its health-care and welfare budgets
substantially to deal effectively with HIV/AIDS...

Mobilize Local and Global Action against Drug Companies

The drug companies - GlaxoSmithKline, Bristol-Myers Squibb,
Boehringer Ingelheim, Merck, Abbott and many others will
try to stop the South African government's attempt to make
medicines affordable to all its people. The law passed by
the country's first democratic Parliament under the
leadership of former President Mandela is now under attack.
TAC calls on all people to oppose the drug companies and to
support the legislation...

Global Action March 5 - March 12, 2001

a.. TAC calls on people in every country to mobilize
against drug company profiteering on Monday 5 March 2001.
On this day, the action by more than 40 multi national drug
companies against the South African government will be
heard in the Pretoria High Court. Millions of people will
die from HIV/AIDS and other illnesses, if the drug
companies succeed in their action. TAC specifically calls
on our allies Medecins Sans Frontièrs, Health Gap
Coalition, ACTSA and all the organizations who endorsed to
Global March for HIV/AIDS Treatment Access to mobilize. A
victory for the drug companies in this case will set back
the struggle for access to essential medicines in all
countries. TAC will mobilize actions against drug companies
throughout the week 5-12 March 2001...

Email: info@...
Website: http://www.tac.org.za

U.S. Contacts for March 5 Mobilization (as of January 28)

East Coast: ACT UP Philadelphia, 215-731-1844,
katie@...

West Coast: John Iversen, ACT UP East Bay, 510-568-1680,
johnnyi@...

For More Information

Check the following Web sites for information on this
lawsuit, and on the issues behind it:
http://www.tac.org.za
http://www.globaltreatmentaccess.org
http://www.healthgap.org

The pharmaceutical industry's case for opposing Section 15C
is stated in SUBMISSION OF THE PHARMACEUTICAL RESEARCH AND
MANUFACTURERS OF AMERICA (PhARMA) FOR THE NATIONAL TRADE
ESTIMATE REPORT ON FOREIGN TRADE BARRIERS, 2001 (November
27, 2000), section on South Africa (pages 150-152); it is
currently available at:
http://www.phrma.org/intnatl/news/2000-11-27.23.pdf


***** Africa Treatment Access: Contact President, Congress
on Africa Executive Order

by John S. James

According to recent news reports, the Bush Administration
is considering revoking the executive order Clinton signed
last May, that the U.S. would not require stricter patent
protection of AIDS medicines in Sub-Saharan Africa than is
required by the intellectual-property provisions of the
World Trade Organization. This executive order applies only
to Africa, and only to HIV/AIDS medications. It is opposed
by pharmaceutical companies.

We suspect that this news story was leaked in order to test
the political strength of supporters of treatment access
for Africa, vs. that of the pharmaceutical industry.
Although this industry has given millions of dollars of
campaign contributions, mostly to Republicans, no one knows
how President Bush will decide to handle this issue.

The Africa Policy Information Center
(http://www.africapolicy.org) provided some background in
an alert emailed on January 26:

"President Bush, after only three days in office, is
reportedly considering reversing President Clinton's
executive order preventing the U.S. from retaliating
against African nations that seek to draw upon entirely
legal provisions within the World Trade Organization to
secure affordable medicines for the treatment of HIV/AIDS.
The pharmaceutical industry, one of his largest corporate
contributors, has aggressively sought to prevent African
nations from using compulsory licensing and parallel
imports to obtain these medicines cheaply..." [This alert
is at
http://www.africapolicy.org/adna/hiv0101c.htm ]

Action

Write or call President George W. Bush at the White House,
Washington D.C. 20500, or 202-456-1111.

Write to your Senators at the U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C.
20501, and to your Congressional representative at the U.S.
House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. 20515, or call
their local or Washington offices. Make sure it is clear
that you are a constituent.

Talking points:

* The AIDS crisis is one of the great disasters in history,
and is worst in Africa;

* Brazil has achieved huge success in getting HIV treatment
to those who need it, greatly reducing both AIDS deaths and
new infections (see THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE, Sunday
January 28, 2001, cover story, "How to Solve the World's
AIDS Crisis," by Tina Rosenberg; also see THE WASHINGTON
POST, September 17, 2000, "Brazil Becomes Model in Fight
Against AIDS," by Stephen Buckley, page A22). The United
States should not use its economic power to stop Brazil, or
stop African countries from creating similar programs (see
"News Flash: Brazil..." in this issue).

* The pharmaceutical-company plans for discounts or free
drugs announced to date are unlikely to ever reach more
than a tiny minority of Africans who need treatment.

* The current executive order will not reduce profits for
future research and development, since all of Africa makes
up less than 1.5% of the global pharmaceutical market. Only
one in a thousand Africans with HIV are receiving modern
treatment today, and the vast majority who are priced out
of the market generate no profit or incentive for drug
research and development.


***** News Flash: Brazil; South Africa Lawsuit Letter

As this issue went to press:

(1) The World Trade Organization is convening a panel on a
United States complaint against Brazil's internationally
praised AIDS program, which manufactures low-cost generic
copies of antiretroviral drugs and makes them available
without charge to patients. "The U.S. complaint threatens
the Brazilian AIDS policy, which includes providing free
drugs to HIV infected people. The lives of hundreds of
thousands of patients depend on this system," says Bernard
Pecoul, director of MSF's (Doctors Without Borders') Access
to Essential Medicines campaign. "The US action will also
intimidate countries which would like to take up Brazil's
offer to help them produce AIDS medicine." More than 120
Brazilian AIDS organizations have called for support of the
Brazilian program.

More information will be available at:
http://www.globaltreatmentaccess.org

(2) AIDS activists and organizations are circulating a
community sign-on letter to all of the pharmaceutical
companies that are parties to the March 5 lawsuit against
South Africa. The letter and instructions for signing are
at:
http://www.globaltreatmentaccess.org


***** Hepatitis C, Co-Infection Information Recommended

Activist Brian Klein of the Hepatitis C Action and Advocacy
Coalition (HAAC), who is now taking a break from intensive
activism, particularly recommends two Web sites for
hepatitis C information: www.HCVadvocate.org, and
www.HIVandHepatitis.com

Also, "I strongly urge those of you who are advocates to
participate in the National Hepatitis C Advisory Council.
This organization is moving in a positive, ethical and
powerful direction to help to unify our community to work
on our common needs. And many of the state coalitions
initially set up by Schering-Plough are now being
administered by non-profit organizations. The involvement
of people living with hepatitis C in setting the agendas
for these coalitions is crucial."


***** AIDS TREATMENT NEWS Contacts, Schedule Update

AIDS TREATMENT NEWS moved to Philadelphia starting January
2. We apologize for delays and glitches which have occurred
during this move.

We now have our direct phone line, so we can be reached
either toll-free at 800-TREAT-1-2, or at 215-546-3776; both
numbers come in on the same line, so there is no need to
call twice. Our fax number is 215-985-4952 (be sure to
include "AIDS TREATMENT NEWS" prominently on the cover
page); email is preferred as it will reach us while we are
traveling.

Our best email address is aidsnews@...

Our mailing address is:
AIDS Treatment News
c/o Philadelphia FIGHT
1233 Locust St., 5th Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19107

Mail forwarding: Mail to the old P.O. box in San Francisco
was not forwarded correctly, and mail arriving there after
January 2 will not reach us until February. We apologize
for inconvenience to our correspondents.

Publication schedule: Our next issue will be delayed,
allowing coverage of the Retroviruses conference (February
4-8).


***** San Francisco Data Shows HIV Rates Still Rising,
Experts Say

by Bruce Mirken

The rate of new HIV infections among gay and bisexual men
in San Francisco is continuing to rise, a panel of experts
said January 24. The group of epidemiologists, city health
officials and AIDS prevention experts convened in a special
"consensus meeting" estimated that 2.2 percent of gay and
bisexual men who don't inject drugs and 4.6 percent of
gay/bisexual injection drug users will become newly
infected this year.

If correct that translates to 892 new seroconversions in
San Francisco, more than double the estimate reached at the
last consensus meeting in 1997 and a marked increase over
last year's interim estimate of 716 new infections per
year. And--contrary to popular stereotypes--the data the
scientists reviewed consistently showed that men over age
25 were more likely to seroconvert than those under 25.

The experts estimated annual seroconversions among male-to-
female transgendered individuals at 7.8 percent, or 152.
Time constraints prevented the group from evaluating data
on heterosexuals, including heterosexual injection drug
users; a second meeting covering those estimates will take
place in February.

The current report is in draft form only and will be
finalized after a two week public comment period. Still,
Mike Shriver, AIDS advisor to San Francisco Mayor Willie
Brown and a longtime AIDS activist, termed the data
discussed at the meeting "frightening."

The new estimates, extrapolated from several studies that
measured seroconversion rates in various samples of the
city's gay/bi male population, were hashed out over nearly
five hours January 19. Because last year's announcement
proved controversial--in part because it hit the press
before city officials expected, producing a jumble of
sometimes inconsistent statements--Shriver took the unusual
step of inviting four journalists to observe the meeting.
All discussions were on the record, but the journalists--
this reporter and staff reporters from the SAN FRANCISCO
CHRONICLE, BAR AREA REPORTER and SAN FRANCISCO FRONTIERS--
were asked not to publish the numbers until they were
released for public comment January 24.

All involved acknowledged that the process is imperfect and
that the figures are estimates, not hard numbers. HIV is
not a reportable condition in California and the ideal
research design--large "population-based" studies--is
expensive, cumbersome and thus fairly rare. So the
scientists had to try to review, interpret and synthesize a
variety of studies looking at specific groups of men who
don't necessarily constitute a representative cross-section
of the city's gay and bisexual population--a job rather
like trying to assemble a jigsaw puzzle with many of the
pieces missing.

Two University of California San Francisco researchers,
Susan Buchbinder and Cynthia Gomez, presented new,
unpublished data for the group to consider. Buchbinder
discussed results from two AIDS prevention studies, a
behavioral intervention study and vaccine study, and
compared them to the numbers from two roughly comparable
studies done in the early nineties. All involved HIV-
negative men who have anal sex and are thus at relatively
high risk for HIV infection.

The men in the new studies had a combined seroconversion
rate of 4.2 percent per year, compared to 2.2 percent and
2.7 percent in the earlier research. Nine percent reported
having unprotected receptive anal sex with partners they
knew to be HIV-positive--about triple the previous rate--
while an even larger percentage had unprotected receptive
anal sex with partners of unknown status.

Optimism about improvements in HIV treatment may be
contributing to the increase in risky behavior. 13 percent
of the men agreed that they are "less concerned about
having sex without a condom" due to the existence of
combination anti-HIV treatments, while 21 percent said that
treatment reduces a person's infectivity.

Gomez discussed data from the Seropositive Urban Men's
Study, which looked at HIV positive gay and bisexual men in
San Francisco and New York. Most of the men's sexual
partners were of unknown HIV status, Gomez said, noting
that researchers found "no difference" in results from the
two cities. And--in a number that mirrored Buchbinder's
findings--nine percent said that they had had unprotected
insertive anal sex in the last 90 days with partners they
knew to be HIV negative.

"That's the data that kept me up that night," Shriver said.

The most optimistic numbers came from the San Francisco
Young Men's Health Study, which since 1992 has tracked a
large group of gay/bi men who were under age 30 when it
began, which reported a seroconversion rate of 1.8 percent
per year.

Though most of the studies evaluated showed annual new
infection rates of four percent or higher, the group chose
to err on the side of being conservative. The comments from
most of the researchers indicated they thought the 2.2
percent per year figure is an underestimate.


***** AIDS TREATMENT NEWS

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