The Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines explains why UNITAID’s efforts to develop a patent pool of HIV/AIDS treatments are so important:
Meanwhile, the US health care finance system appears to be getting into a bit of a standoff with HIV/AIDS drug makers:
Without reliable access to the medications, which cost patients in the AIDS Drug Assistance Program an average of $12,000 a year, people with H.I.V. are more likely to develop full-blown AIDS, transmit the virus and require expensive hospitalizations. Eleven states have closed enrollment in the federal program, most recently Florida, which has the nation’s third-largest population of people with H.I.V.
The need for programs like the Health Impact Fund is more urgent than ever.