Ethics of AZT studies in poorer countries attacked
Cohen, J.
Science 276(5315): 1022
1997
ISSN/ISBN: 0036-8075 PMID: 9173534 DOI: 10.1126/science.276.5315.1022Document Number: 267894
U.S. government-funded studies in developing countries aimed at preventing maternal transmission of HIV were criticized at a congressional hearing on bioethics held on May 8. The Washington, D.C.-based Public Citizen's Health Research Group argued that the trials should be modified because they include as control subjects pregnant women who are given no treatment to prevent maternal transmission of HIV. Nonetheless, AIDS researchers and their sponsors vigorously defended the trials at the hearing and testified that the trials may answer important questions for HIV-infected women in developing countries. The trials have their roots in a critical finding over three years ago revealing that an intensive course of treatment with the anti-HIV drug AZT could prevent maternal transmission of HIV nearly 70 percent of the time.