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Report calls on US to revamp AIDS research effort
US tobacco company settles law suit and industry’s record having lost or settled a
he US tobacco
T of
never
suit came to an March 13. In on end abrupt for being dropped as a exchange plaintiff in the largest class-action lawsuit on behalf of all addicted smokers and former smokers in the USA, the nation’s fifth largest company, Liggett Group Inc, agreed to help pay for smoking-cessation programmes and to drop its opposition to rules proposed by the Food and Drug Administration to regulate marketing to minors. 2 days later, Liggett also agreed to settle lawsuits filed by the attorneys general of five states seeking compensation for costs incurred under the Medicaid programme for smoking-related ill-
product-liability
nesses.
Although Liggett controls only about 2% of the US tobacco market, the settlement could have broader implications in the near future. Liggett’s parent company, the Brooke Group, is engaged in a takeover battle for RJR Nabisco, owners of RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co, the nation’s second-largest tobacco
Report calls
on
The settlements would also apply to RJR if the takeover is successful. In settling the class-action suit, Liggett has agreed to contribute 5% of its pretax income each year, up to US$50 million, to a fund for helping smokers give up the habit. In addition, the company agreed to abide by the FDA’s proposed rules for the marketing of tobacco products to minors. These proposals include eschewing the use of cartoon characters and using only plain-text advertisements in publications with youth readerships. Liggett did not, however, accept the FDA’s claim that it can regulate tobacco as a drug. In its settlement of the Medicaid suits filed by Mississippi, Florida, Massachusetts, West Virginia, and company.
Louisiana, Liggett agreed US$135 million for past and
to
pay
current
medical expenses for Medicaid recipients with smoking-related diseases in these states, and to create a fund for future expenses by setting aside 2-5% of its pretax profits, up to US$30 million each year. Liggett will also set up a third fund to pay claims
behalf of Medicaid recipients in that have not yet sued the tobacco industry. The other major US tobacco companies, including market leader Philip Morris USA, said that they would continue to fight all lawsuits that allege wrongdoing on their part. Meanwhile, a study released on March 14 found that in 1995 the tobacco industry more than doubled the amount of money it contributed to members of Congress just 2 years earlier; 75% of these funds went to Republicans, which is a shift from earlier patterns. The study by Common Cause, a non-partisan government-watchdog group, found that 82% of current members of Congress have received tobaccocontributions. "The company tobacco industry has adopted a strategy of blanketing Capitol Hill with donations to members from around the country, in their effort to purchase congressional inaction on tobacco regulation", said Common Cause president Ann McBride. on
states
Julie Rovner
US to revamp AIDS research effort
National Institutes of AIDS research effort needs to improve its focus and to coordinate better the programmes it NIH AIDS oversees, says the Evaluation Research Program Working Group. Its findings, published on March 13, have been accepted unanimously by NIH’s Office of AIDS Research Advisory Council, said chairman Charles C J Carpenter. He added, "This report is a forward-looking document that outlines AIDS research priorities for the next 5 years". The USA, which has budgeted US$1-4 billion for NIH AIDS research for fiscal year 1996, provides 85% of the world’s public sector spending on AIDS research. The group made 14 major recommendations (panel). One was that, to encourage innovation, the NIH should double the proportion of its AIDS research budget now going to unsolicited support investigatorinitiated research. The bulk of NIH AIDS research funds has been going to support NIH-originated projects through contracts, collaborative agreements, and request for applica-
HealthUS The
more
tions, the panel
says. "In 1994 only about 20 percent of the NIH AIDS extramural research expenditure could be classified as unsolicited
investigator-initiated research, compared with approximately percent for non-AIDS projects",
as
50 says
the report, which concludes said that as a result of this policy, outside researchers with innovative ideas are
being discouraged. The group also recommends an programme to recruit outstanding new investigators to AIDS research.
Recommendations of the group1 included1
working
Integrate all adult clinical trials into single network; 0 Augment research into AIDS-related opportunistic infections; (3 Strengthen nation’s 16 NIH-funded 0
AIDS Research Centres; 0 Ensure the quality of and access to central repositories of biomedical specimens and databases; 0
Develop and implement a clear definition of AIDS and AIDS-related research to ensure that funds allocated for AIDS research is going to relevant programmes.
It proposes that mechanisms be put in place that will provide "short-term support (2-3 years) to young investigators at levels sufficient to initiate quality research programs". The group notes that work in the laboratories of many "distinguished senior scientists" often touches on questions important to AIDS research. "To encourage these laboratories to explore AIDS-related avenues of research, a program should be established that offers supplemental funding to support postdoctoral fellows or graduate students to carry out AIDS-related research." Although vaccine research at NIH has been given the highest priority, says the panel, it has received less funding and attention than other areas. "The entire AIDS vaccine research effort at NIH should be restructured", the report says. It sugests that vaccine programmes now being conducted at various different NIH institutes, centres, and divisions be put under a centralised leadership based in the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Michael
McCarthy
823
he US tobacco
T of
never
suit came to an March 13. In on end abrupt for being dropped as a exchange plaintiff in the largest class-action lawsuit on behalf of all addicted smokers and former smokers in the USA, the nation’s fifth largest company, Liggett Group Inc, agreed to help pay for smoking-cessation programmes and to drop its opposition to rules proposed by the Food and Drug Administration to regulate marketing to minors. 2 days later, Liggett also agreed to settle lawsuits filed by the attorneys general of five states seeking compensation for costs incurred under the Medicaid programme for smoking-related ill-
product-liability
nesses.
Although Liggett controls only about 2% of the US tobacco market, the settlement could have broader implications in the near future. Liggett’s parent company, the Brooke Group, is engaged in a takeover battle for RJR Nabisco, owners of RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co, the nation’s second-largest tobacco
Report calls
on
The settlements would also apply to RJR if the takeover is successful. In settling the class-action suit, Liggett has agreed to contribute 5% of its pretax income each year, up to US$50 million, to a fund for helping smokers give up the habit. In addition, the company agreed to abide by the FDA’s proposed rules for the marketing of tobacco products to minors. These proposals include eschewing the use of cartoon characters and using only plain-text advertisements in publications with youth readerships. Liggett did not, however, accept the FDA’s claim that it can regulate tobacco as a drug. In its settlement of the Medicaid suits filed by Mississippi, Florida, Massachusetts, West Virginia, and company.
Louisiana, Liggett agreed US$135 million for past and
to
pay
current
medical expenses for Medicaid recipients with smoking-related diseases in these states, and to create a fund for future expenses by setting aside 2-5% of its pretax profits, up to US$30 million each year. Liggett will also set up a third fund to pay claims
behalf of Medicaid recipients in that have not yet sued the tobacco industry. The other major US tobacco companies, including market leader Philip Morris USA, said that they would continue to fight all lawsuits that allege wrongdoing on their part. Meanwhile, a study released on March 14 found that in 1995 the tobacco industry more than doubled the amount of money it contributed to members of Congress just 2 years earlier; 75% of these funds went to Republicans, which is a shift from earlier patterns. The study by Common Cause, a non-partisan government-watchdog group, found that 82% of current members of Congress have received tobaccocontributions. "The company tobacco industry has adopted a strategy of blanketing Capitol Hill with donations to members from around the country, in their effort to purchase congressional inaction on tobacco regulation", said Common Cause president Ann McBride. on
states
Julie Rovner
US to revamp AIDS research effort
National Institutes of AIDS research effort needs to improve its focus and to coordinate better the programmes it NIH AIDS oversees, says the Evaluation Research Program Working Group. Its findings, published on March 13, have been accepted unanimously by NIH’s Office of AIDS Research Advisory Council, said chairman Charles C J Carpenter. He added, "This report is a forward-looking document that outlines AIDS research priorities for the next 5 years". The USA, which has budgeted US$1-4 billion for NIH AIDS research for fiscal year 1996, provides 85% of the world’s public sector spending on AIDS research. The group made 14 major recommendations (panel). One was that, to encourage innovation, the NIH should double the proportion of its AIDS research budget now going to unsolicited support investigatorinitiated research. The bulk of NIH AIDS research funds has been going to support NIH-originated projects through contracts, collaborative agreements, and request for applica-
HealthUS The
more
tions, the panel
says. "In 1994 only about 20 percent of the NIH AIDS extramural research expenditure could be classified as unsolicited
investigator-initiated research, compared with approximately percent for non-AIDS projects",
as
50 says
the report, which concludes said that as a result of this policy, outside researchers with innovative ideas are
being discouraged. The group also recommends an programme to recruit outstanding new investigators to AIDS research.
Recommendations of the group1 included1
working
Integrate all adult clinical trials into single network; 0 Augment research into AIDS-related opportunistic infections; (3 Strengthen nation’s 16 NIH-funded 0
AIDS Research Centres; 0 Ensure the quality of and access to central repositories of biomedical specimens and databases; 0
Develop and implement a clear definition of AIDS and AIDS-related research to ensure that funds allocated for AIDS research is going to relevant programmes.
It proposes that mechanisms be put in place that will provide "short-term support (2-3 years) to young investigators at levels sufficient to initiate quality research programs". The group notes that work in the laboratories of many "distinguished senior scientists" often touches on questions important to AIDS research. "To encourage these laboratories to explore AIDS-related avenues of research, a program should be established that offers supplemental funding to support postdoctoral fellows or graduate students to carry out AIDS-related research." Although vaccine research at NIH has been given the highest priority, says the panel, it has received less funding and attention than other areas. "The entire AIDS vaccine research effort at NIH should be restructured", the report says. It sugests that vaccine programmes now being conducted at various different NIH institutes, centres, and divisions be put under a centralised leadership based in the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Michael
McCarthy
823