Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is investigating Illinois-based Abbott Laboratories' decision to increase its price by 400 percent for Norvir, a drug that helps suppress HIV in people with HIV or AIDS.
Meanwhile, a group from the AIDS Foundation of Chicago, including people living with HIV/AIDS and local service providers, recently met with an Abbott official to discuss the price increase, which has sparked a backlash from patients, doctors and activists around the country.
The company responded with a press release Monday.
'Over the past several weeks, Abbott has met with hundreds of representatives from across the HIV community—including physicians, physician societies, other care providers, patients, patient advocates, public and private payers, and government officials—to listen to their concerns,' the company stated. 'Abbott has initiated additional measures to ensure that patients continue to have unrestricted access to Norvir and to ensure that Norvir can continue to be a component in enabling future HIV drug development. The company is working with members of the community to implement these measures.'
Abbott announced that it would 'Permanently freeze the price of Norvir soft gelatin capsules for AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPs) at the price in place prior to the Dec. 4, 2003 price jump.'
They also will: 'Make Norvir soft gelatin capsules available permanently (Abbott currently has a new form in development); provide a 30-count dispensing bottle to improve patient convenience and affordability; offer free Norvir to patients without drug coverage via the only U.S. HIV Patient Assistant Program without income requirements; and give free Norvir to patients who exceed their annual drug coverage maximum.'
They will also be: 'Freezing the 100 mg cost of Norvir soft gelatin capsules at $1.71 or less for use in clinical development with new chemical entities; reaching out to companies that have salvage compounds in development to explore options that will ensure that these therapies are accessible to patients upon market availability; and dedicating more than 200 world-renowned scientists to pursuing new compounds focused on HIV protease and hepatitis C virus polymerase and to reformulating improved versions of its antiviral products.'
Abbott's response, 'while laudable ... does not address other key concerns and appears unlikely to mute mounting criticism,' AFC said.
During the two-hour meeting with Abbott, AFC and representatives from the Chicago Department of Public Health, the CORE Center, and the Test Positive Aware Network expressed concerns about the impact of the decision on AIDS-related systems of care and urged Abbott to roll back Norvir's price.
Attorney General Madigan's announcement is part of her larger effort to address skyrocketing drug prices. However, she said Abbott's decision to increase the cost of Norvir from less than $55 a month to more than $250 a month stands out as an example of unfair pricing that may violate the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act.
Critics of this price jump have said it is aimed at undercutting competitors' products and helping Abbott gain a larger market share for its new combination of all-Abbott drugs to suppress HIV. In the past, Abbott's Norvir has been combined with other drug companies' products in HIV suppression 'cocktail' combinations.
'Norvir is not like a hayfever medication that people take to lessen symptoms and be more comfortable. It is a drug they take to survive,' Madigan said. 'Increasing its price is like increasing prices for life-saving cancer drugs or heart drugs. This investigation is aimed at determining the real reason for the price increase and assessing whether the increase violates Illinois law. Every consumer is affected by unfair or deceptive practices that drive up the costs of needed prescription drugs.'
While Abbott has a price freeze agreement with government insurers, community clinics and drug assistance programs, Abbott says 40 percent of people who take a drug combination with Norvir are covered by private medical insurance and two to five percent of patients pay out of pocket.
