USA's AIDS Healthcare Foundation bans Bristol-Myers Squibb drug reps from its clinics because of refusing to cut Reyataz price

The USA's AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) says that it has banned pharmaceutical sales representatives from drug major Bristol-Myers Squibb from calling on AHF's medical providers and staff in its 16 US health care centers. The decision, it maintains, is based on B-MS' refusal to lower the price of its key AIDS drug Reyataz (atazanavir) for cash-strapped AIDS Drug Assistance Programs.

Since it was first approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2003, the AHF says that B-MS has increased the price of Reyataz by over 25%. Today, the Average Wholesale Price (AWP) of Reyataz (atazanavir) stands at $13,046 per year. AHF officials note the drug must be taken with at least two other HIV/AIDS drugs as part of an effective antiretroviral treatment regimen.

In a letter sent to B-MS chief executive Lamberto Andreotti earlier this month, AHF president Michael Weinstein and AHF chief of medicine/US Homayoon Khanlou, state: 'As AHF has repeatedly pointed out to B-MS regarding this issue, the high price charged for Reyataz is contributing to a crisis that has left thousands of patients without access to lifesaving AIDS treatment. As of the date of this letter, there are 1,879 people on ADAP waiting lists for AIDS medications. In addition, ADAPs are raising eligibility requirements that are shutting out even more people from the programs. This crisis is quickly becoming worse as many larger ADAPs are being forced to stop providing treatment to new and existing patients. For example, Florida, which has the third largest HIV/AIDS population in the country, recently instated a waiting list that now has over 600 patients on it.'