Jan. 4: Memorial service for writer and ACT UP member David Feinberg.
Jan. 8: TAG board decides to bring on Michael Marco and Spencer Cox full-time beginning in April 1995.
Jan. 11: Activist and film-maker Steve Brown dies of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML).
Jan. 14: Activist Lee Schy dies of vancomycin-resistant staphylococcis sepsis.
Jan. 29: To D.C. for first meeting of OAR AIDS Research Evaluation Subcommittee (the “Levine Committee”).
Feb. 8: Mepron (atovaquone) approved for mild to moderate PCP.
Feb. 10: Disappointing meeting with Merck on expanded access for indinavir (Crixivan).
Feb. 21: Michael Marco elected to ACTG Executive Committee.
Feb. 23: Gregg Gonsalves, Spencer Cox, Peter Staley to D.C. for National Task Force on AIDS Drug Development meeting on protease inhibitors. Publish Problems With Protease Inhibitor Development Plans.
April: Completion of Michael Marco’s The Lymphoma Project Report.
May 13: Memorial service for poet James Merrill, NYC.
June: FDA approves expanded access for Roche’s saquinavir (Invirase).
June 5: Mark delivers keynote talk at NCI KS meeting on “Kaposi’s sarcoma and the changing face of AIDS activism.”
June 6: Michael Marco’s plenary on “Do we have a standard-of-care for KS? or, The incredible shrinking ABV response rate.”
July 5: Gregg’s cousin Carl Parisi dies of aspergillosis and lymphoma.
July 12: Office of AIDS Research (OAR) budget crisis.
July 20: House Appropriations NIH markup. OAR budget line eliminated.
Aug. 18: Spencer Cox finishes FDA Regulation of Anti-HIV Drugs: A Critical Review.
Sep. 1: FDA approves compassionate use for cidofovir (Vistide) for relapsing cytomegalovirus (CMV) retinitis.
Sep. 18: 37th ICAAC, San Francisco. Release of final results of ACTG 175, showing that ddI monotherapy, AZT/ddI and AZT/ddC combination therapy are each superior to AZT monotherapy in treatment-naive individuals. The first study proving the benefit of two-drug combination therapy will rapidly be eclipsed by the development of triple-combination highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), as hinted at in an Abbott late-breaker showing that the combination of its protease inhibitor ritonavir plus two reverse transcriptase inhibitors can drive HIV RNA down to “undetectable” levels.
Oct. 3: O.J. Simpson “not guilty” verdict.
Oct. 8: Work on TAG Does ICAAC. FDA approves clarithromycin (Biaxin) for mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) prevention.
Oct. 16: National AIDS Treatment Advocates Forum (NATAF), Los Angeles. All TAG staff attend.
Oct. 19: OAR Advisory Committee holds first formal meeting to review progress on the Levine Committee report.
Oct. 24: Meeting at Roche on saquinavir.
Oct. 27: FDA approves oral ganciclovir (Cytovene) for CMV prophylaxis.
Nov. 6: FDA hearing on 3TC. FDA Antiviral Committee votes for a broad indication: “for use in combination with AZT.”
Nov. 7: FDA hearing on saquinavir, which is recommended for approval in combination but not as monotherapy.
Nov. 8: FDA hearing on full approval for d4T. Green light given even though trial was too small to show statistical significance.
Nov. 14: Newt Gingrich-induced government shutdown.
Nov. 17: FDA approves doxorubicin HCL liposome injection (Doxil) for Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS).
Nov. 20: FDA approves 3TC (Epivir) for use in combination with AZT.
Dec. 6: FDA approves saquinavir (Invirase), the first protease inhibitor.
Dec. 21: FDA grants full approval for d4T (Zerit, stavudine).