Gilead Announces AIDS Drug Price Concessions for Nation’s ADAPs

The Friends of AIDS Foundation applauds Gilead Sciences, maker of several key HIV drugs, for its recent announcement that it will offer significant pricing and access concessions for the nation’s beleaguered AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPs), the federally funded, state run programs that supply lifesaving HIV drugs to low-income Americans in need.

Gilead’s concessions, most of which will take effect on or before July 1st, will increase patient access to lifesaving HIV medications for patients served by the network of cash-strapped ADAPs across the country. The agreement was reached between Gilead and the ADAP Crisis Task Force (ACTF) of the National Alliance of State & Territorial AIDS Directors (NASTAD). Gilead, which markets the HIV drugs Truvada®, Viread® and Emtriva® joins Abbott, Merck, Tibotec Therapeutics and ViiV Healthcare among the ranks of HIV drug manufacturers that have recently offered significant price cuts, freezes, or price rebate adjustments and other concessions on the pricing of their lifesaving HIV medications to ADAP.

Gilead will also expand the eligibility requirement for its patient assistance program from 300% of Federal Poverty Guidelines to 500% and eliminatie minimum payments for patients through Gilead’s co-payment assistance program. This should allow many cash-strapped states to keep their ADAPs operating and providing treatment access to low income patients in need.

While many states are facing massive budget shortfalls and are seeking to cut a wide spectrum of services, more than twelve have gone as far as instituting patient waiting lists to access ADAP services, including Florida—with the nation’s third highest case HIV/AIDS load—which instituted an ADAP waiting list starting June 1st. There are currently more than 1,100 individuals on ADAP waiting lists across the country.

The Friends of AIDS Foundation will continue to advocate on this issue until BMS and Boehringer Ingelheim, agree to follow Gilead’s lead by matching or offering similar pricing and access concessions to ADAP.

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.


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