The FDA's Antiviral Drugs Advisory Committee has recommendedapproval for the use of Burroughs Wellcome Co.'s AZT to reduce therisks of infants being born with HIV from their infected mothers.Burroughs Wellcome spokesman Doug Stokke said Friday he could notspeculate on when the FDA may release its decision on the company'sapplication for approval to market its Retrovir brand zidovudina, orAZT, to treat HIV-infected pregnant women. Burroughs Wellcome, ofResearch Triangle Park, N.C., filed the application in April.The FDA is not bound by the committee's recommendation, which wasbased on results from an AIDS Clinical Trial Group 076 studysponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.Those Phase III results, reported in February, showed that the estimatedrate of HIV transmission from infected mother to child was 8.3 percentwhen both were treated with Retrovir, compared with a rate of 25.5percent for those who received no therapy.According to U.S. health officials, 6,000 to 7,000 HIV-infected womengive birth each year and about 1,500 to 2,000 of their children get thevirus. _ Charles Craig

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