On AIDS Drug, Profits over Patients

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1995. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

On AIDS Drug, Profits over Patients

New York Times (12/18/95) P. A16
Greene, Jeffrey B.; Kramer, Larry

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA's) recent approval of Hoffmann-La Roche's Invirase will be welcomed by HIV-infected individuals and health care providers, write Jeffrey B. Greene, a clinical associate professor of Medicine at New York University, and Larry Kramer, co-founder of Gay Men's Health Crisis, in a letter to the editor of the New York Times. Until that point, the authors note, the protease inhibitor had only been available to 1,500 advanced HIV patients. Concurrent with the approval announcement, however, was the news that those subjects in Hoffmann's "compassionate" protocol were informed that both their participation and their supply of the drug were finished. Greene and Kramer note that the company obtained substantial pre-marketing information from the data it required for entry into the lottery. Also, by having the lottery itself, they conclude, Hoffmann focused on the demand of the drug before Invirase's efficacy in AIDS had been clinically determined.

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