AIDS Trials, Civil Liberties and the Social Control of Therapy: Should we Embrace New Drugs with Open Arms?

The unique challenges posed by AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) have ramifications far beyond the bounds of the disease itself. Nowhere is this felt more acutely than in the biomedical research and drug regulatory communities. AIDS activists compel researchers and government regulators to re-evaluate the conventional wisdom concerning tests of new therapies.¹ Anyone who thinks this problem is specific to AIDS should consider that changes could affect the way in which all new therapies are evaluated.