Word: azt
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...someone suffering from AIDS, the drug AZT (azidothymidine) can mean the difference between a precipitous death and a few more months of hope. The drug blocks the AIDS virus from reproducing, thereby cutting dramatically the amount of virus circulating within the blood. At the same time, a victim's ravaged immune system can replenish some of its chief defenders, called helper T cells, which may double in number during AZT treatment. Yet the drug has two notorious drawbacks. One is its side effects, which can include severe anemia. But the more bitter issue is its cost. A year's supply...
...high price of AZT, sold under the trade name Retrovir, has become one of the most passionate controversies of the AIDS epidemic. Activists have accused Burroughs Wellcome, the drug's manufacturer, of taking unseemly advantage of desperate AIDS patients. AZT, which is being taken by more than half the 42,000 people with AIDS in the U.S., ranks as one of the most expensive drugs on the market. The debate comes at a particularly crucial time for 7,000 AIDS patients who have depended on federal help to buy the drug. The $20 million program to provide them with AZT...
...defense, the North Carolina-based pharmaceuticals maker, a subsidiary of Britain's Wellcome P.L.C., cites the high cost of research and development. In an attempt to defuse the cost crisis, the company said last week that it will cut the wholesale price of AZT 20%, to $1.20 a pill. One reason the company is able to do so is that the potential market for the drug has grown substantially in recent weeks with the discovery that AZT can help a far larger group. A Government study released in August concluded that the drug, besides helping people who have AIDS...
While Burroughs Wellcome said it had been planning the cut for some time, the announcement came on the heels of angry protests. Well-organized AIDS activists condemned AZT's high price at stock exchanges in London, New York and San Francisco, chanting such slogans as "Be the first on your block to sell your Burroughs Wellcome stock." Senate staffers in Edward Kennedy's office began researching possible ways to nationalize the drug by invoking a law, dating from World War I, that allows the Government to revoke exclusive patents and licenses in the interest of national security. And the House...
Estrogen-based drugs intended to ease the toll of menopause are linked to breast cancer. -- A new study shows that AZT can slow the onset of AIDS...