Bush Budget Shows Startling Neglect of Domestic AIDS, says AHF

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) (http://www.aidshealth.org) today blasted President George W. Bush for his neglect of the domestic AIDS epidemic in his proposed AIDS funding allocations in the fiscal year 2009 budget. The two principal AIDS programs funded by the federal government, the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) and the Ryan White CARE Act (RWCA), received a combined increase of seven million dollars between them; however, due to hefty annual price increases for lifesaving AIDS drugs that are automatically granted to the multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical industry based on the consumer price index (CPI), the six million dollar ADAP budget increase actually translates into a $27 million dollar cut to the federally funded, state run consortia of ADAPs which provide lifesaving AIDS medicines to low-income Americans. In addition, RWCA is slated to receive a meager one million dollar increase at a time when the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is suppressing data that is widely-expected to show an alarming increase in HIV rates in the US—a rate believed to be between 35% to 50% higher than the previous CDC estimates of 40,000 new US HIV cases annually. This will likely result in cuts to other parts of RWCA at a time when more of its resources should be being directed to smaller states with emerging epidemics.

“To best use our limited government AIDS dollars, the President and Congress should also seriously consider reducing or eliminating government funding for AIDS vaccine research and allow private donors to step up and fund more of those efforts, the results of which have sadly been proven quite disappointing to date”

“With a dramatically increasing need for AIDS prevention, care and treatment here in the US, AHF is calling on President Bush and Congress to immediately place a freeze on the obscene drug price hikes automatically awarded to the pharmaceutical industry based on the CPI,” said Michael Weinstein, President of AIDS Healthcare Foundation. “This practice is a bureaucratic bonanza built in to the system to benefit the pharmaceutical industry, and one which, as this budget shows, is bankrupting these programs that are intended to serve as lifelines for people living with HIV/AIDS across the US. I simply do not believe that the President, Congress and the American public really want a program like ADAP to serve as a corporate welfare program for the drug industry.”

Under the President’s FY 2008 budget, ADAP received an increase of $19 million, but the full cost of built in CPI increases would be $32 million, so ADAP is actually being cut $13 million in that budget. The President’s current FY 2009 budget proposal gives ADAP a $6 million increase; however, once the CPI price increase is factored in, that figure actually translates into a $27 million cut to ADAP. In terms of patients, it means that ADAP will be funded to serve approximately 2,700 fewer patients. However, the National Association of State Territorial AIDS Directors (NASTAD) projects that patient enrollment increases will mean 384 additional patients every month. This could mean that 7,300 patients needing to access lifesaving AIDS drugs through ADAP will not be able to get them in 2009 if the President’s proposed budget numbers as well as CPI price increases prevail.

“To best use our limited government AIDS dollars, the President and Congress should also seriously consider reducing or eliminating government funding for AIDS vaccine research and allow private donors to step up and fund more of those efforts, the results of which have sadly been proven quite disappointing to date,” said Homayoon Khanlou, MD, Chief of Medicine, US, for AIDS Healthcare Foundation.

“The result of these cuts will be a reduction in crucial AIDS services at a time when the need is rapidly expanding,” said James Driscoll, PhD, a Washington-based consultant for AIDS Healthcare Foundation and former member of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV and AIDS (PACHA). “These cuts may lead to waiting lists for ADAP, reductions in the drugs that are available on ADAP formularies nationwide, restrictions and the tightening of the criteria of who may qualify to obtain drugs from these lifesaving programs, as well as some ADAPs actually closing their programs to new enrollees to avoid the politically-charged embarrassment of creating waiting lists for Americans in need of such help in obtaining lifesaving AIDS medicines.”

“Because the proposed budget increase in AIDS funding in reality will translate to steep cuts in crucial AIDS services, including the resurgence of waiting lists for ADAP programs nationwide, it makes a compelling case for dropping the CPI price increases, whether through action of Congress or by directly pressuring the drug companies to accept a voluntary two-year 2008-2009 ADAP price freeze,” added AHF’s Weinstein. “This budget shows an irresponsible neglect of our burgeoning domestic epidemic.”

NOTE:

MEDIA AVAILABILITY: AHF President Michael Weinstein will be available to comment on President Bush’s budget funding proposal and the neglect of domestic AIDS. Contact him via +1.323.860.5300 (work) or +1.323.810.1238 (mobile) or via email michaelw@aidshealth.org

About AHF

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) is the nation’s largest non-profit HIV/AIDS healthcare, research, prevention and education provider. AHF currently provides medical care and/or services to more than 62,000 individuals in 20 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean and Asia. Additional information is available at www.aidshealth.org