The White House -- though unaware of the NIH concerns -- remains confident in Bush's US$500 million plan in 2002 to send nevirapine to Africa. Bush approved US$2.9 billion for global AIDS fighting next year.
Nevirapine is an antiretroviral drug that has been used since the 1990s to treat adult AIDS patients and is known to have potentially lethal effects like liver damage and severe rashes when taken over time.
In 1997, NIH began studying in Uganda whether it could be given safely in single doses to stop mother-to-baby transmissions. That research showed it could reduce transmission in as many as half the births.
But by early 2002, an NIH auditor, the agency's medical safety experts and the drug's maker all disclosed widespread problems about the US-funded research in Uganda.
Westat Corp., a professional medical auditing firm hired by NIH, reported there were 14 deaths not reported in the study database as of early 2002 and that the top two researchers in Uganda acknowledged "thousands" of bad reactions that weren't disclosed.
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