Insurance Company To Pay $10 Million For Dropping HIV Positive Teen – The Supreme Court of South Carolina has ordered Fortis Insurance to pay $10 million for revoking the coverage of a teenage college student after he tested positive for HIV. Jerome Mitchell first learned he was HIV positive when he donated blood before leaving for college. Based on insubstantial evidence, Fortis Insurance Company claimed that the student’s HIV status was determined before he acquired his policy. A lower court had ruled that Mitchell should receive $15 million in damages; however, the Supreme Court ruled that the amount should be reduced to $10 million. This is the most an insurance company has ever had to pay in a case of its kind. For more information, please see the article at Advocate.com.

AIDS Charity Questioned For Dubious Spending – The Let’s Talk, Let’s Test Foundation of Chicago, Illinois is being investigated for $523,545 in questionable spending. The foundation had previously asked for $3 million per year to help stop the spread of AIDS in African-American communities, of which it received $1.2 million. The investigation includes the purchase of a skybox at a college football game, along with five-figure bonuses for two staff members. State department health officials and federal authorities are examining the situation. For more information, please see the article in the Chicago Sun-Times.

U.S. Federal Court Favors Roche In HIV Test Kit Dispute With Stanford University – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has ruled in favor of Roche Pharmaceutical Company in a patent infringement suit filed by Stanford University in 2005. At that time, the University had filed the suit claiming that the Roche HIV test kits violated its patents for assessing the amount of HIV in blood samples and for evaluating the efficacy of antiretroviral drugs. Representatives for Roche had alleged that the pharmaceutical company had ownership of the patents when it bought a company that worked with Stanford researchers. When Stanford appealed, the Federal Circuit ruled that Stanford never had standing to file suit because it could not establish ownership of the patents. For more information, please see the full decision made by the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.