COMPOUND Q FOR AIDS: PROJECT INFORM WILL MEET WITH FDA IN OCTOBER

COMPOUND Q FOR AIDS: PROJECT INFORM WILL MEET WITH FDA IN OCTOBER to discuss future use of the drug and the "possibility of future community-based trials." The San Francisco-based AIDS activist group discussed the upcoming meeting in a recent press release announcing preliminary results with the drug. In August, FDA requested that further study await an approved IND. An IND for Compound Q (trichosanthin) has not yet been filed. Project Inform maintained that the drug showed a 50% reduction in p24 antigen in nine of 15 patients, lasting two to three months after completion of therapy. Fifty-one patients participated in the New York and San Francisco-based study. Efficacy data was collected on 34 of the patients. "A few other patients experienced short-term declines in p24 antigen, but the levels had returned to baseline within three months," the release says. "These findings were particularly significant because they occurred in patients where AZT was failing to control levels of p24." Improvements in immunological measures were also noted in 19 of the 34 patients, Project Inform reported, with levels of T4 cells increasing at an overall mean of 28% two months after treatment. The safety data showed central nervous system toxicity in seven of 51 subjects, with two patients dying. Other toxicities included low-grade fever, muscle aches and rashes. "Project Inform continues to discourage self-prescription and self-medication with Compound Q," the release states, "and asks that buyer's clubs refrain from distribution or importation."