AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) is pressing New York-based drug firm Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) to lower the price of its key AIDS drug, Reyataz—currently priced at over $13,000 per year—for lifesaving, but financially hard-hit AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPs) nationwide. AHF officials note Reyataz must be taken with at least two other HIV/AIDS drugs as part of an effective antiretroviral treatment regimen.
In a letter sent late last week to BMS, AHF President Michael Weinstein asked that,
"…Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) lower the price of Reyataz for state AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAP) to equal the prices of other widely prescribed first-line antiretroviral (ARV) drugs, such as Viread and Sustiva. We recognize that BMS provides financial assistance to people who cannot afford Reyataz through a co-payment program and the Access Virology Patient Assistance Program. However, these efforts are completely undone by the exorbitant price that BMS charges for this drug. This price puts an unbearable strain on ADAP's ability to provide treatment to additional people who need it."
As ADAPs around the country try to provide AIDS drugs to an increasing number of low-income people in need, the steep price of such lifesaving drugs is becoming a more crucial issue. The Average Wholesale Price (AWP) for Reyataz (atazanavir) stands at $13,046 per-year. By contrast, other commonly prescribed first-line AIDS drugs are priced $3,000 to $5,400 less. Moreover, BMS has increased the price of Reyataz year over year; since it was first approved in 2003, the price of Reyataz has increased by over 25%.
Across the country, states have been forced to make cuts to ADAP services and enrollment because of high cost AIDS drugs like Reyataz. States can no longer afford to provide treatment to many of their current ADAP clients, and as costs increase more people will be put at risk of losing access to services. Ultimately, this means that the more people who go on high-priced Reyataz, the fewer who can receive services.