California ADAP Adds Protease Inhibitors


California ADAP Adds Protease Inhibitors

Being Alive; August 1996

On July 16 the California AIDS Drug Assistance Program announced that it was adding the three FDA-approved protease inhibitors to its formulary (the list of drugs it agrees to cover). This is most welcome news, for the excitement over the powerful effects of protease inhibitors has been tempered by the concern that they would not be available to people who could not afford them (as reported in the April 1996 issue of the Being Alive Newsletter). The inclusion of the protease inhibitors in the California ADAP formulary insures that those people who qualify for drug assistance under this program will be able to receive them.

Meanwhile, President Clinton has announced that he will submit a budget request to Congress asking for a $65 million increase in government aid to the state-run ADAP programs. Under this request, federal spending on ADAP in the coming fiscal year would rise to $195 million, from $130 million already requested for the coming fiscal year. Spending during the current fiscal year, which ends September 30, is $115 million, of which $52 million was added in April by the Congress at President Clinton's request.

Representative Gerry E. Studds of Massachusetts has said that he hopes Mr. Clinton's request will get through Congress as smoothly as the $52 million supplement did a few months ago. "To hesitate is to calculate what a human life is worth," Mr. Studds told the New York Times. "You almost have to play the role of the divinity to make a judgment that you would not do this."


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