ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, July 17, 1993                   TAG: 9307170128
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B2   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE                                LENGTH: Short

TEST DRUG RECIPIENT, 52, DIES AWAITING TRANSPLANT

A man who was treated with an experimental drug for hepatitis B died Friday at the University of Virginia Medical Center, where he was waiting for a liver transplant.

The 52-year-old man died after becoming seriously ill following treatment with the drug fialuridine. Two other people have died who participated in a trial of the drug at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md.

A 42-year-old man died earlier this month after getting a liver transplant at UVa, and a 44-year-old man died after a liver transplant at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

The man who died Friday was one of two patients transferred to UVa from NIH earlier this week for liver transplants. The other patient, a 63-year-old man, was in critical condition Friday night, hospital spokesman Tom Doran said.

Another patient, a 37-year-old woman who received a liver transplant at UVa a week ago, is in critical but stable condition, Doran said.

The patients are among 10 who were given the drug for 10 to 13 weeks in an NIH trial that was halted June 26 when patients started becoming ill.

Earlier studies indicated the agent, licensed by Eli Lilly & Co., is effective in treating chronic hepatitis B infections. The earlier studies, in animals and in people, gave no indications of problems.

Keywords:
FATALITY 


 by CNB