Presidential Address: American Foundation for AIDS Research

Photocoied at the Roald Reagan Libra~
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overall. Spending on AIDS has been one of the fastest-growing
parts of the budget, and, ladies and gentlemen, it deserves to
be.
We're also tearing down the regulatory barriers so as to
move AIDS drugs from the pharmaceutical laboratory to the
marketplace as quickly as possible. It makes no sense -- and, in
fact, it's cruel -- to keep the hope of new drugs from dying
patients. And I don't blame those who were out marching and
protesting to get AIDS drugs released before the T's were crossed
and the I's were dotted. I sympathize with them, and we'll
supply help -- and hope -- as quickly as we can.
Science is clearly capable of breathtaking advances, but
it's not capable of miracles. Because of AIDS' long incubation
period, it will take years to know if a vaccine works. These
tests require time, and this is a problem money cannot overcome.
We will not have a vaccine on the market until the mid to late
1990's at best.
Since we don't have a cure for the disease and we don't have
a vaccine against it, the question is, how do we deal with it in
the meantime? How do we protect the citizens of this Nation?
And where do we start?
For one thing, it is absolutely essential that the American
people understand the nature and the extent of the AIDS problem.
And it's important that Federal and State governments do the
same.

I recently announced my intention to create a national
commission on AIDS, because of the consequences of this disease