Progress! Pharma Decreases Cost of HIV Medication

by Elizabeth Lombino · 2011-05-05 13:17:00 UTC
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This cause has been reporting on the ADAP Crisis for months now and most of the news we have shared has been bleak. Today we have some encouraging news.

AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAP) provide vital assistance to HIV-positive individuals who cannot afford the the incredibly expensive medications needed to treat and manage this devastating disease. Without these essential medications, a person’s HIV disease is more likely to progress to AIDS. HIV/AIDS can be life-threatening without these medications.

As of April 21, the waiting list for ADAP is at 7,674 people in 11 states. (The number was 5,100 in 10 states when we first began reporting about the ADAP Crisis in January.) These individuals are being denied coverage for their life-saving medications due to budget cuts on the federal and state levels. They are now at an even greater risk of seeing a drastic decline in their health while they wait for their medications.

Now for the encouraging news: one top pharmaceutical company, Abbott Laboratories, has made the decision to lower the cost of their popular HIV/AIDS medication, Kaletra. More specifically, Abbott indicated that the price reduction would be for those patients on ADAP.

The Chicago Tribune reports that Abbott Chair Miles White indicated that they have "not raised the price of Kaletra since 2007, while some companies have increased prices on their AIDS drugs 5 to 6 percent annually." We recently reported that one such company, Gilead Sciences, made the decision to raise the prices of their top HIV medications. The cost of Atripla went up by 5.1 percent. Truvada and Emtirva went up by 7.9 percent. All of these medications also experienced increases within the last two years.

This is a move in the right direction by a major pharmaceutical company. Recently, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) called for top pharma to decrease the prices of their medications to assist with the ADAP crisis. Several major Pharma companies have not acted on this recommendation. It is refreshing for some positive news regarding this crisis from a top company.

Hopefully more Pharma companies will follow the lead of Abbott. We have two petitions urging Pharma to reduce the cost of their HIV/AIDS medications. Please take a moment to voice your demands to Merck and Gilead. There is still a ton of work to be done to fight the ADAP Crisis. This is one step in the right direction.

Photo Credit: Rich Lombino

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