AHF Praises J&J for AIDS Drug Price Cut, Asks Merck to Follow Suit
ADAP Crisis Task Force announced enhanced agreement with Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Janssen Therapeutics to provide additional discounts and rebates to AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPs) on all of its AIDS medications
By AIDS Healthcare Foundation12/8/2011
Los Angeles, CA
This summer, AIDS advocates staged “No More Tears”-themed protests at the headquarters of drug giant Johnson & Johnson in New Jersey urging the company to lower prices for its AIDS drugs nation’s hard-hit ADAPs
Today, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) praised drug giant Johnson & Johnson (J&J) for offering discounts on its AIDS drugs for cash-strapped state AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPs). It was announced today that an enhanced agreement between the ADAP Crisis Task Force (ACTF) and Janssen Therapeutics, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, has been reach to provide additional discounts and rebates to ADAPs on all of its AIDS medications. ADAPs, a network of federal and state funded programs that provide life-saving HIV treatments to low income, uninsured, and underinsured individuals living with HIV/AIDS nationwide, are facing a severe financial crisis that has left as many as 10,000 people with AIDS without access to treatment.
AIDS Healthcare Foundation has been spearheading a campaign aimed at encouraging Johnson & Johnson to reduce the price of its AIDS drugs for cash-strapped ADAPs and staged back-to-back “No More Tears”-themed protests at the company’s headquarters in New Jersey in July and August of this year. The group has now turned its attention to Merck & Co., launching a new advocacy campaign aimed at urging the company to lower its prices for state ADAPs.
“We thank Johnson & Johnson for offering price reductions for the company’s lifesaving AIDS medications for state programs that serve low-income patients and urge Merck & Co to follow suit,” said Michael Weinstein, AIDS Healthcare Foundation President. “At a cost to ADAPs of roughly $8,000-$9,000 per person per year, Merck’s Isentress is one the highest priced AIDS drugs in the US today. We want to state loud and clear that Merck’s refusal to lower its prices for ADAPs is a death sentence for people with AIDS.”
Johnson & Johnson’s announcement comes days after Gilead Sciences, Inc., the largest manufacturer of AIDS drugs in the U.S., announced it has agreed to provide additional discounts to the programs. Johnson & Johnson is now the third company, following Gilead and Boehringer Ingelheim, to agree to additional discounts for ADAPs.
“We are pleased that Johnson & Johnson, one of the most well known brands in all America, has taken this step today to make its lifesaving products available to the people who need them,” said Jessica Reinhart, AHF’s Grassroots Community Manager who spearheaded protests at Johnson & Johnson’s New Brunswick headquarters this summer. “We felt it important to bring the message about Johnson & Johnson’s high price for its AIDS drugs directly to company employees in the company’s hometown this past summer and are gratified to know that the company heard the message and heeded AIDS advocates’ call to ‘Do the Right Thing’ on AIDS.”
