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Biotech / Medical : Agouron Pharmaceuticals (AGPH) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: David S. who wrote (3776)	2/8/1998 10:13:00 PM
From: Oliver & Co	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6136

I understand statistics, my first degree was in engineering. But as a doctor, if a patient comes with a deadly disease (until PIs, the stats for patients with AIDS were ~80% dead at two years, 99% at 3 years) what does it matter if the treatment that is going to keep you alive gives you a fat belly, or a buffalo hump. Besides, when I said it was inconsequential, I said it based on what I have seen in my own practice. ====================================================================== Here are more statistics, the ones that count. "AIDS Toll in State Down 43 Percent in 1997" Baltimore Sun (02/06/98) P. 1A; Bor, Jonathan ÿÿÿÿ Health officials report that the number of AIDS-related deaths in Maryland last year dropped 43 percent, more than two times the percentage drop seen in 1996.ÿ Statistics show that 611 Maryland residents died from AIDS in 1997, versus 1,182 in 1996. Although delays in reporting deaths from the last few months of the year could alter the figures, Dr. Liza Solomon--head of the Maryland AIDS Administration--noted that a 43 percent drop in deaths were seen in studies of both the first six months of the year and of the first nine months, when compared to the same periods of 1996.ÿ She expects the figures to hold even after the year's statistics become final.ÿ The drop appears to reflect the increasing impact of new AIDS drug combinations that include protease inhibitors.ÿ "Most people attribute the decline both to the new drugs like protease inhibitors and other treatments that prevent some of the more severe complications," said Solomon. "The protease inhibitors are probably responsible for the lion's share of this."ÿ The decline in AIDS-related deaths was seen across gender and ethnic lines, but the reductions were larger among white patients than African Americans.ÿ AIDS-related deaths fell 70 percent among white males and 65 percent among white women, but only 35 percent among African-American men and 37 percent among African American women.ÿ Solomon said the discrepancy appeared to be because fewer African Americans were receiving care early and receiving care consistently.