AIDS SOCIETY DEMANDS SPEEDIER APPROVAL OF DRUGS

OTTAWA (CP) The Canadian AIDS Society is calling for speedier
approval of new drugs to treat the disease, pointing to five powerful
drugs approved for use in the United States that are not available in
Canada.

The society also wants a new approach to street drugs, with the
emphasis on reducing the risk of spreading infection through dirty
needles rather than on criminal prosecution of drug users.

The demands are part of a 10-point AIDS control plan released at the
annual meeting of the Canadian AIDS Society yesterday.

Nova Scotia activist Janet Conners, who is HIV-positive, blasted the
federal Health Protection Branch for delays in approving powerful new
drugs such as protease inhibitors.

"Unfortunately, not all of us are able to tolerate the currently
available drugs," she said at a news conference. "The Health
Protection Branch is grossly inefficient.

"I ask them: How many Canadians will have to die before the Health
Protection Branch will begin to do its job?"

The AIDS virus mutates quickly and drugs quickly lose their usefulness
against it. Conners said she can't take two of the three protease
inhibitors now available in Canada and doesn't know how long the third
will work.

Health Minister Allan Rock acknowledged the concerns about slow drug
approvals when he attended the World AIDS Conference this month in
Geneva.

A meeting of people living with AIDS, federal drug regulators and
representatives of pharmaceutical companies will be convened to
discuss the issue next month, said Rock's spokesman Derek Kent.

The society's plan said that Canada must provide full drug coverage
for people living with AIDS so they can get treatment without
financial barriers.

Terrence Stewart, the organization's chairman, acknowledged that costs
for new drug therapies would be substantial but said costs of
providing acute care for AIDS patients would be even higher.

The total number of AIDS cases in Canada is estimated to be 20,000.
There was a sharp decline in the number of new cases diagnosed in 1997
compared with 1996, but Stewart said the epidemic is still growing.

He said injection drug use, even among the middle class, has surpassed
all other sources of new infections.

Activist Diane Riley said decriminalization of personal drug use is
vital if the epidemic is to be contained.

"We do need decriminalization to be able to get users out so they can
get help. We drive them underground.

"It's hard to get drug users out because they know they're going to be
harassed or imprisoned.

"Without that step we're going to have a tremendously high infection
rate."

In the proposed plan, prisoners would have safe and confidential
access to clean needles, condoms and other means to prevent the spread
of AIDS.
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- -- Dave Haans Graduate Student, University of Toronto WWW:

http://www.chass.utoronto.ca:8080/~haans/

Checked-by: "Rich O'Grady"