AIDS drug finds a booster in FDA panel.

A federal advisory panel recommended on April 21 that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration give a new AIDS drug conditional approval. The drug, dideoxycytidine (DDC), would be used in combination with zidovudine (AZT), the first antirival AIDS drug approved by the agency.

The panel's action is part of an effort to speed up federal approval of lifesaving drug, especially drugs aimed at combating the deadly virus that causes AIDS.

DDC manufacturer Hoffman-LaRoche, Inc., of Nutley, N.J, presented the panel with preliminary clinical data showing that DDC administered with zidovudine helped boost the immune system people with AIDS or a severe precursor to AIDS. Those preliminary studies involved about 150 people monitored for up to one year, says Hoffman-LaRoche scientist Paul Oestreicher.

The FDA says it is considering the panel's recommendation. Under the accelerated approval plan, the agency can okay an experimental drug based on early data. If further studies negate the drug's promise, then the FDA can revoke approval.

The committee stopped short of recommending that FDA approve DDC as a sole treatment for AIDS, saying the company failed to prove that DDC is as effective as zidovudine.