The World鈥檚 only large-scale trial of the AIDS drug ddI has stopped
recruiting participants. Alpha, a trial run by Britain鈥檚 Medical Research
Council and France鈥檚 INSERM, offers people either option A, which gives
them equal chances of a placebo or the drug; or option B, which gives either
a high or low dose of the drug. But only some 20 people chose option A.
In the US, about 18 000 people already get ddI in an 鈥榦pen access鈥� scheme,
even though the drug is still unlicensed and there are no clinical data
proving that it works.
