TPAN Receives Grant to Expand POWER Program
AIDS Foundation of Chicago Moves to New Home
HIVMA Supports Public Plan Option
A Fair Price for the Norvir Tablet?
Women and HIV – the July/August Issue of Positively Aware Available Next Week
TPAN Receives Grant to Expand POWER Program
Test Positive Aware Network (TPAN) was awarded a $331,000 grant from the Chicago Department of Family and Support Services to enhance its existing mental health and substance abuse programs.
In March 2008, TPAN launched the POWER program (Positive Outcomes for Wellness, Education, and Recovery), designed to serve African-American men who have sex with men (MSM), are HIV-positive or at risk of becoming positive, and struggling with addiction issues. With the program’s success and this additional funding, TPAN will extend POWER programming to include all HIV-impacted populations, male and female, of all ethnicities, with substance abuse problems. In addition, TPAN will implement a cutting-edge intervention specifically for individuals whose treatment and recovery efforts are complicated by a history of childhood sexual abuse.
“POWER is an example of the dedication that TPAN has for the community,” said TPAN Executive Director Bruce Weiss. “With these additional funds, we’re able to offer more services to more people with the POWER program and to enhance the services already provided at TPAN.”
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Boerhinger-Ingelheim (BI), maker of the HIV drugs Viramune (nevirapine) and Aptivus (tipranavir), is holding a free one-day women’s seminar on HIV here in Chicago. “Women Living Positively: It’s My Life, National Women’s Summit” is scheduled for Friday, July 17, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at New Zion Banquets, 1950 W. 13th Street (in the Illinois Medical District). Breakfast and lunch will be provided. For more information, visit www.banquet.newzionmbc.com. Women interested in attending the summit should call toll-free at 1-877-933-4310, extension 99512, as soon as possible to reserve a seat.
To watch a video taped at the summit of 2007 in Florida, visit www.vodium.com/goto/womenlivingpositive.asp.
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AIDS Foundation of Chicago Moves to New Home
The AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC) has moved from its long-time location on S. Wells Street to 200 West Jackson Blvd., Suite 2200, Chicago, IL 60606.
Their main number (312-922-2322) and fax number (312-922-2916) will remain the same, as will direct lines and extensions for AFC staff. Dance for Life, the Chicago office of the National AIDS Training Program, and the Pediatric AIDS Chicago Prevention Initiative have also moved along with AFC.
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HIVMA Supports Public Plan Option
On June 16, the HIV Medicine Association (HIVMA), part of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), released a position statement, which has also been adopted by the IDSA, outlining reasons why, in terms of health care reform, a public plan option is so important for people with HIV.
According to HIVMA, the Kaiser Family Foundation reported that 17% of HIV patients have private insurance, 54% rely on Medicaid and/or Medicare and 29% are uninsured. There is concern that private insurers would be reluctant to include HIV specialists in their networks, even though treatment delivered by an experienced HIV provider results in better patient outcomes and more cost-effective care.
"HIV treatment is one of the most effective medical interventions available today, but it requires ongoing access to high-cost medications and services over the course of a patient's lifetime," said Michael S. Saag, MD, FIDSA, and HIVMA chair-elect.
Arlene Bardeguez, MD, MPH, and current HIVMA chair said, "A public plan option will better ensure all of our patients have the opportunity to benefit from HIV treatment and live healthy and productive lives."
For more information go to www.hivma.org
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A Fair Price for the Norvir Tablet?
In a piece posted on June 23, David Evans wrote for AIDSmeds.com that Abbott Labs is about to release its new Norvir (ritonavir) tablet. The Fair Pricing Coalition is already making efforts to prevent the cost of the medication from rocketing up to unaffordable levels for the people who rely on it.
Activist concern stems from past experience with Abbott which, in December 2003, raised the price of Norvir, the only drug currently on the market used to boost blood levels of other protease inhibitors. The increase raised the per-patient wholesale price of Norvir from $54 to $265 per month .The uproar that ensued issued not just from the community and health care providers, but it even motivated The Wall Street Journal to do some investigative reporting. In January 2007, the resulting story, based on internal Abbott memos, revealed that the increase was a marketing tactic aimed to decrease the popularity of other PIs (mainly Reyataz, made by Bristol-Meyers Squibb) while maintaining the success of Abbott’s Kaletra, which had no price increase, though it contains Norvir.
The FPC has issued a letter to the CEO of Abbott asking that the price not be increased when they launch the new formulation and that government programs be able to retain the discounts they now receive for Norvir. A grassroots effort to have organizations, health providers and individuals sign on to the letter was promoted by the FPC.
Evans reports that Abbott declined to comment on any of the specific concerns in the sign-on letter. In an official statement provided to AIDSmeds, they said, “Abbott has successfully worked with the Fair Pricing Coalition in the past several years, resulting in responsible pricing. In fact, Abbott has not taken a price increase on Kaletra since October 2007. We look forward to communicating with the FPC in good faith on the new Norvir tablet, as we did with the Kaletra tablet in 2006.”
While this response was less than satisfactory for some FPC members, they’re hoping that it signals a willingness on the part of Abbott to take community concerns into account. “There’s been some bad blood in the past,” says Jeff Berry, FPC member and Director of Publications for Test Positive Aware Network in Chicago, “but I think there’s a good opportunity for the FPC and Abbott to work together to ensure that the new Norvir formulation is priced appropriately, so that there is the broadest access for the people who need that drug, which is pretty much everyone on a protease inhibitor.”
To read the entire article, go to www.aidsmeds.com
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Women and HIV – the July/August Issue of Positively Aware Available Next Week
This issue, addressing the needs and issues of women living with HIV, includes:
An in-depth interview with Dawn Averitt Bridge, a leading HIV/AIDS advocate and the founder of The Well Project. Bridge talks about her experiences raising a family and coming out publicly as an HIV-positive mom.
An overview article on women and HIV in the U.S. by Saraswati Iobst, M.D. and Monica Gandhi, M.D., MPH, from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), which addresses "the feminization of the epidemic."
Interviews with three HIV-positive women who have overcome huge obstacles in their lives and serve as an inspiration for others: Joyce Turner Keller, a minister from Louisiana; Evany Turk, a local Chicago woman; and Lisa Tiger, a Native American woman from Oklahoma.
To order copies of the magazine, call (773) 989-9400 or e-mail distribution@tpan.com. For more information about TPAN and Positively Aware magazine, visit www.tpan.com and www.positivelyaware.com.
