Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Bay Area Reporter - June 29, 2006
Bob Roehr
Prezista previously was known as TMC114. It is the first drug developed by Tibotec, now a division of Johnson & Johnson. It is taken twice a day with a low dose of ritonavir, as are most other protease inhibitors, which retards clearance by the liver.
"Based on the evidence we've seen so far, this is very likely the most successful drug yet for treating people with high levels of resistance," said Paul Dalton of San Francisco-based Project Inform.
Equally significant is the pricing. Tibotec, under strong lobbying pressure from community organizations, broke with past industry practice of pricing a new drug at the top of that class.
"We're elated they have taken our suggestion and reversed the upward spiral of unconscionable new life-saving drug prices," said Lynda Dee with the AIDS Treatment Activist Coalition. "While ATAC would prefer even lower drug prices, we believe this represents real progress."
"This is the first drug in a long time that didn't come with a price tag that leapfrogged the last approved drug of its type," added Project Inform's Ryan Clary.
Howard Grossman, executive director of the American Academy of HIV Medicine, praised the company "for its price constraint during this critical time." He said federal funding for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program has not kept pace with the growing caseload and many state programs cannot afford to pay for many of the more recently approved drugs.
CARE Act stalls
Reauthorization of the Ryan White CARE Act has stalled in the U.S. House of Representatives where key legislators have expressed concern over the formula for distributing funds.
Initial modeling showed that New York, Maryland, Texas, New Jersey, and Florida would lose money with the proposed changes (California already is slated to lose funds). The Government Accountability Office is preparing a new estimate of the impact of those changes and legislators are waiting to see the results. That may mean further tinkering with the bill.
New D.C. campaign
Washington, D.C. is launching an aggressive campaign for every person ages 14 to 84 to learn their HIV status. It is targeting the estimated 400,000 adults living in D.C.
It formally kicked off at Freedom Plaza on Pennsylvania Avenue on National HIV Testing Day, June 27. The $8 million program has 80,000 rapid HIV tests on hand for the initial phase of the campaign.
"If we are serious about addressing this epidemic in our community, then screening for HIV has to become routine," said Marsha Martin, who heads up D.C.'s HIV program. She formally was executive director of the national advocacy group AIDS Action and served as a special assistant on HIV to Donna Shalala, secretary of Health and Human Services in the Clinton administration.
Martin has long discussed the program. "We want everyone in the District of Columbia to know their HIV status by the end of 2006. That includes those who live in the White House and work in Congress," she told a meeting of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS in March.
One in 50 D.C. residents is believed to be infected with the virus, and D.C. has the highest rate of new AIDS cases in the country - 1 in 179.2 per 100,000 people. African Americans are disproportionately affected.
The program already has sent educational materials to health care providers and will be carrying out sustained public education and speaking programs throughout the year.
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