Læknaneminn - 01.04.1997, Page 106

Peter Duesberg ancl David Rasnick
Table 7
Anti-HIV/AIDS drugs taken by HIV-positives 1
Drug HIV-positives (n=2,801)
Anri-infectives (see below) 1,584 (57%)
Analgesics/antipyretics 1,539 (55%)
Vitamins 1,307 (47%)
Antihistamines 810(29%)
Antacids/antidiarrhetics/laxatives 571 (20%)
Anxiolytics/sedatives 517(18%)
Corticosteroids (topical/systemic) 423 (15%)
Sympathomimetics (adrenergics) 381 (14%)
Antidepressants/tranquiJizers 323 (12%)
An ti tussi ves/expecto ran ts 316(11%)
Electrolytic/caloric diuretics 280 (10%)
Cardiovascular 195 (7%)
Vaccines 133 (5%)
None of the above (confirmed) 0 (0%)
Anti-Infectives by name
Penicillins 550 (20%)
Acyclovir 476 (17%)
Topical antifiingals 442 (16%)
Erythromycin 376 (13%)
Aerosolized pentamidine 260 (9%)
Cephalosporins 254 (9%)
Co-trimoxazole 246 (9%)
Systemic antifungals 244 (9%)
Tetracyclines 210 (7%)
Miscellaneous ft-lactam 83 (3%)
Dapsone 84 (3%)
1 Fogelman I, Lim L, Bassett R, Volberding P, Fischl MA, Stanley
K, Cotton DJ, for the AIDS Clinical Trials Group. Prevalence
andpatterns of use of concomitant medications among partici-
pants in three multicenter human immunodeficiency virus type
1 clinical trials. Journal ofAcquired Immune Deficiency
Syndromes 1994; 7:1057-1063.
5) Although AZT and other DNA chain terminators
are prescribed since 1987 to healthy and ill HIV-posi-
tives for the rest of their lives, there are as yet no ani-
mal experiments that have ever tested to what degree
these inevitably toxic substances accelerate death.
Moreover, animal experiments would be necessary to
determine how AZT and other anti-viral prescription
drugs interact with the many recreational drugs that
are, or have been, consumed by most AZT recipients —
a question that none of the licensing studies has even
addressed. It is therefore not possible to know how
HlV-positives could possibly benefit from AZT’s
hypothetical anti-HIV effects in view of its certain cell
toxicity.
As of 1996 the DNA chain-terminators are pre-
scribed in combination with another group of experi-
mental anti-HIVdrugs, the protease inhibitors, under
new labels, that give the impression that these “cock-
tails” are entirely new treatments 29, 173'176. But the mor-
bidity and mortality of the long-term consumption of
protease inhibitors alone or in combination with DNA
chain terminators have neither been determined in ani-
mals nor in humans. Surprisingly, the fate of the first
two groups of AIDS patients that are claimed to have
benefited by protease inhibitors published in two arti-
cles and two editorials in Nature in January 1995 has
not been mentioned since 33,34, ’77,17S. The absence of
any follow-up of these promising claims is particularly
odd since Nature has published numerous articles on
AIDS and protease inhibitors.
4.2. Epidemiology of AZT and supplemental anti-
HIV/AIDS medications
1) AZTand other DNA chain-terminators. Every year
since 1987 about 200,000 HlV-positive people are pre-
scribed AZT and other DNA chain-terminators as
anti-HIV drugs for the rest of their lives 26, m. Because
of the high cost (about $10,000 per year) most AZT
recipients are Americans or Europeans 26,29.
As of 1996 about 1.8 million (200,000 HIV-posi-
tives per year over 9 years) Americans and Europeans
have been on AZT for an average of 1 year. The one-
year-average on AZT is derived from the fact that with-
in one to two years the average AZT recipient suc-
cumbs to the toxicities of AZT and of recreational
drugs, and that many drop out after only a few months
due to unbearable drug intoxication 26 lí0, ’79. In the
words of the HIV/AIDS establishment, “AZT loses its
effect after a year or two because the virus becomes
resistant” ‘80. The above estimate is compatible with
the total of $2.5 billion in AZT sales by
Glaxo/Burroughs Wellcome 1S1. Since the wholesale
price for a daily dose of 500 mg AZT per person for
one year is $2,000 26, $2.5 billion corresponds to 1.25
million patient-years of AZT prescriptions since 1987.
Since recreational drugs are acknowledged AIDS
risks 14,2S, and since AZT is prescribed as AIDS pro-
phylaxis and therapy, the epidemiology of AZT use is
in fact similar to that of recreational drug use ,0'í-130- 182_
Although national statistics are not available, numer-
ous studies indicate that the vast majority of AZT
recipients are adult male homosexuals, and that a
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