“Now that it has been approved for first-line treatment, there is no
justification for Merck to price Isentress three times higher than other
first-line AIDS drugs. It is pure greed”
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) will host a protest Tuesday,
January 12, at 10:30am targeting Merck and Co. Pharmaceuticals
over the steep price for its key HIV/AIDS drug, Isentress, during the 28th
Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco. Isentress
(raltegravir) is an integrase inhibitor originally approved in October
2007 by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a salvage therapy for
patients who are resistant to other AIDS drugs. In July, 2009, the FDA
expanded its approval of the drug for use as a first line course of
treatment of HIV/AIDS, a move which both greatly expands the US market
for the drug and makes Merck’s Isentress the most expensive first line
treatment. Initial FDA approval in 2007 required use of Isentress only
for patients for whom other drug regimens had failed; the expansion of
FDA approval of Isentress for first line use, allows the drug to now be
used for newly diagnosed HIV positive individuals who have never been on
any antiretroviral treatment.
“Now that it has been approved for first-line treatment, there is no
justification for Merck to price Isentress three times higher than other
first-line AIDS drugs. It is pure greed,” said Michael Weinstein,
AIDS Healthcare Foundation President. “The unwarranted price of this
drug is putting an unbearable strain on taxpayer funded State AIDS Drug
Assistance Programs (ADAP) and the thousands of people who rely on them.
The limited funding available for these programs is being exhausted by
the high cost of Isentress and other newer AIDS drugs. Several states
are now unable to provide treatment to additional people who need it,
and existing ADAP clients are at risk for losing access to their meds.”