Last week, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), a Los Angeles-based advocacy and treatment organization, sent a letter to Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) officials, pressing them to reduce the price of their AIDS drug Reyataz (atazanavir).

In its letter to BMS, AHF urged that AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPs) nationwide should receive the drug at a price similar to prices of first-line antiretroviral drugs like Viread (tenofovir) and Sustiva (efavirenz).

ADAPs throughout the United States aim to provide AIDS drugs like Reyataz to low-income people in need. This aim, however, is becoming increasingly difficult to meet as drug prices continue to rise.

Since 2003, BMS raised the price of Reyataz by 25 percent. The average wholesale price to pharmacies is now over $13,000 per year per patient, making it one of the most expensive first-line antiretroviral drugs on the market.

Even though ADAPs typically receive drugs at lower costs than pharmacies, AHF claims that the high cost of Reyataz, which must be taken along with at least two other HIV/AIDS drugs, strains ADAPs.

Across the country, states have been forced to reduce ADAP services and enrollment due to the high price of AIDS drugs like Reyataz.

Although BMS offers financial assistance through a co-payment program and the Access Virology Patient Assistance Program for those who cannot afford Reyataz, AHF claims that these efforts are undermined by the high price BMS charges for the drug.

But AHF acknowledges that Reyataz is not the only expensive AIDS drug.

In September 2009, after Isentress (raltegravir) received approval as a first-line AIDS treatment, AHF criticized Merck for Isentress being the most expensive first-line AIDS treatment.

In October 2009, after the FDA advisory committee advocated for approval of Pfizer’s Selzentry (maraviroc) as a first-line therapy, AHF urged Pfizer officials to reconsider the pricing of their drug.

AHF insists that the high cost of other HIV/AIDS drugs is no excuse for BMS to push up the price of Reyataz and that all AIDS drug manufacturers must establish reasonable pricing and access policies so that ADAP can continue to provide treatment to the people who need it.

For more information, please read the AHF press release and previous Beacon coverage of AHF’s campaign to lower drug prices.