European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 26, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 6 the stars and stripes saturday november 26, 1988 aids drug extends life study says Chicago apr nearly 5,000 peo ple who look the ads fighting drug once known As at survived at a much greater Rale 1han the Csc without in say researchers Tor the company that makes the Medicine. The finding confirms the life saving polint Bijj or /.ulovudinc. Which is sold under the Brand name Rel Rover said Aduke University physician Independent of the study group. Researchers enrolled 4,805 patient who had suffered from pneumonia com Mon in people with aids and treated them with  the Only a1ds fighting medication approved by the fed eral government. Seventy three percent of the subjects were Sliff alive about 10 months after irl Jil Mcnol was started the researchers re Portal in Friday s journal of inc Ameri can medical association. No direct comparison figures arc available for people who didn.1 take the drug since withholding in for study Pur poses is unethical said Terri Creagh Kirk an epidemiologist at Burroughs Welcome co., the North Carolina com Pany that makes Zajdo Vudin. But records of people who were diag nosed with aids before zidovudine be came available show Only 50 percent sur Vived past i i months she said. Vidovi Dinc taken in capsule form in Hibits growth of the virus thai causes aids Creagh Kirk said. It is considered the mainstay of treat ment Tor adults with acquired immune deficiency syndrome but docs not cure the disease. The study was designed by the nation Al cancer Institute the food and drug administration and the National Institute of allergy and infectious diseases Creagh Kirk said. The stud provides important confirmatory evidence supporting the zidovudine s effectiveness in patients with aids and a Milder form of inc disease called ads rela cd Complex or. John a. Bartlett of Duke said in an editorial accompanying the study contrary to earlier predictions of the limited lifetime of Zhidov Ittiline its future appears Bright because of the Scarcity of other medications that can fight inc aids virus Barl lilt wrote. Subjects had to Sake the drug every four hours in doses starting Al 200 Milli Grams. Doses were reduced for those re porting Side effects which include Ane Mia. The study started in october 1986, included about 1,000 members of racial minorities close to 150 women and 300 intravenous drug users As Well As Homo sexual and bisexual men. Creagh Kirk said. Previous studies had focused most Lyon homosexual and bisexual men be cause they represent inc largest proportion of aids sufferers she said. Subjects were recommended by their physicians who recorded data on. Their conditions during the study period and reported in to a coordinating Center in Beltsville my. Enrolment of new patients continued until March 1987, when the drug received Fra approval of the 4.805 subjects. 2,838 were re ported till alive during the last 10 weeks of checkups through sept. Is 1987, in researchers said. It is Likely that Many other patients were still alive on sept is 1987, Al though no information concerning them has been received since june 30. 1987," they wrote. During the study 847 paid cats were reported to have died but Creagh Kirk said some doctors failed to provide regu Lar updates on heir patients and More deaths May have occurred without the researchers knowledge. Their calculation of a 73 percent sur Vival rate takes into account such limitations she said other limitations noted by Bartlelt included Lack of confirmation of physicians observations possible Bias in the Way doctors selected patients and absence of supervision in reporting of data. A wive i apr