NATIONAL PATENT JOINT VENTURE AIDS COMPOUND CLINICAL TRIALS

Executive Summary

NATIONAL PATENT JOINT VENTURE AIDS COMPOUND CLINICAL TRIALS will begin in the next four to six weeks, the company announced June 29. "Pursuant to an IND application filed with the FDA, the study, which is expected to commence in four to six seeks, is designed to test the effects of AS101 on approximately 30 AIDS patients," the release states. Scientific Testing Inc., a joint venture between National Patent Development and Bar Ilan University of Isreal, is the drug's sponsor. A proprietary synthetic compound, AS101 "has shown immuno-augmenting, antiviral and antitumor activity in preclinical animal testing and immuno-augmenting activity in a limited number of AIDS patients in Phase I foreign clinical tests," according to the release. "The clinical study will be conducted at the Institute for Immunological Disorders (M.D. Anderson Hospital) Houston, Texas, under the direction of Dr. Peter Mansell," the release notes. Previously, Mansell directed a trial of ICN's Virazole (ribavirin) in AIDS patients at that center. Other preliminary foreign trials testing AS101 against various cancers are either under development or have been started, National Patent added.