Dideoxyadenosine in AIDS
Executive Summary
HHS announced in a May 8 Federal Register notice that it is looking for a company sponsor to oversee clinical and preclinical development of the experimental AIDS treatment dideoxyadenosine/dideoxyinosine in exchange for an exclusive royalty-bearing license. Interested companies should be able to synthesize bulk pharmaceutical necessary for the treatment of 500-1,000 AIDS patients, perform oral and IV formulation, and do clinical studies. HHS said that NCI scientists have established the effectiveness of the compound in "inhibiting in vitro growth of HTLV-III." Roche recently was granted the rights to develop DDC under the same licensing process.