* Advanced Viral Research Corp., of New York, reportedpreliminary results of a clinical trial of its peptide nucleic acid drugReticulose in patients with AIDS. The double-blind, randomized,placebo-controlled clinical trial had 43 patients never treated withHIV-anti-retroviral therapy. Twenty-one patients received Reticuloseand 22 patients received placebo, administered daily, every otherweek, for a 60-day period. Results indicated a 37 percent increase inthe mean CD-4 positive T-cell lymphocytes counts in patientsreceiving Reticulose as compared with a seven percent decrease inthe placebo group. Also, there was a 21 percent average decrease inHIV viral load, as measured by quantitative RNA PCR, in theReticulose-treated patients, in contrast to a 33 percent increase inHIV viral load in the control group.

* Aurora Biosciences Corp., of La Jolla, Calif., and Carl CreativeSystems, of Harbor City, Calif., will collaborate to develop advancedsample handling devices for very rapid screening of compounds aspotential new medicines. The alliance will focus on high-speedcompound dispensing technologies to allow the automated, precisionmanipulation of individual compounds into microtiter plates andAurora's miniaturized NanoPlates.

(c) 1997 American Health Consultants. All rights reserved.