Pentagon showdown for vaccine

WASHINGTON - The controversy over the Army's plan to test MicroGeneSys Inc.'s gp160 therapeutic AIDS vaccine in an exclusive, large-scale Phase III trial may be resolved finally at a meeting to be convened at the Pentagon Tuesday by Defense Secretary Les Aspin, according to a Washington representative for the company.

For much of last week, the Army was involved in a tug-of-war with the Department of Health and Human Services and the NIH over whether it should proceed with its exclusive trial of gp160, or whether it should follow the strongly voiced advice of the HHS and NIH and include several vaccines in the trial. Last Thursday, HHS Secretary Donna Shalala told reporters that the Army would make a statement on a final resolution to the debate on the next day...