Drug pricing is HIV policy

.FIRST PERSON.  COMMENTARY

The fight for HIV justice cannot stop at funding lines. It must confront the price of the medicines themselves.

That was the lesson I took from a webinar hosted by BEUC, the European Consumer Organization, on whether medicine prices in the European Union are resistant to pressure from the United States. The answer matters far beyond Europe. If political and trade pressure can drive drug prices up there, it can shape access everywhere—including here in the U.S., where patients already pay more than other wealthy countries for the same medications.

For people living with HIV, and for people vulnerable to acquiring the virus, this is not a technical debate. It is a matter of survival.

For decades, U.S. tax dollars have helped finance HIV prevention and treatment research. Yet too many Americans still face drug prices that strain families, public programs and community organizations. That should not be accepted as normal. It should be challenged.

We need to say this plainly: medicine pricing is HIV policy. When prices rise, access falls. When access falls, people get hurt. When public money is swallowed by inflated drug costs, less is left for prevention, treatment and the local organizations that keep people connected to care.

This moment calls for a broader strategy. HIV advocates, activists and human rights defenders must organize not only around funding, but around pricing, transparency and accountability. We demand fair reimbursement systems, open negotiations and public interest protections that put patients ahead of profit.

If deals are being negotiated behind nondisclosure agreements, the public deserves to know why. If pharmaceutical power is shaping health policy without accountability, the result is a system that serves shareholders first and patients last. That is unacceptable.

It’s also a moment for honesty inside the movement. If ending HIV means relying on systems that keep people locked out of affordable care, then we need to rethink the strategy. We cannot claim victory while access remains unequal.

I have lived with HIV and advanced HIV disease for more than 41 years. I know what it looks like when care is delayed, when costs are crushing and when policy is made far from the people most affected. We have seen this before. We should not go back.

The message is simple: lower drug prices, protect access, fund prevention and put people before profit.

Nothing about us, without us. And nothing about HIV without a fight for affordable medicine.

A recording of the BEUC webinar can be viewed on YouTube.