Dallas Voice (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 20, No. 44, Ed. 1 Friday, March 5, 2004 Page: 11 of 72
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PHYSICIANS
Continued from Page 6
said. "I don't think the facts are being represent-
ed [correctly]."
The price increase was needed, she said,
because the amount of Norvir taken by most HIV
patients today has decreased from 12 pills to one
pill per day. When the medication was developed
in 1996 it was the main component of a drug reg-
imen, and today it is only used as a booster for
other medications, she said.
"This has resulted in a dramatic decrease in
both sales and revenue and has necessitated the
recent repricing to reflect the current value of this
very important drug," she said. "The use of it has
changed dramatically."
Other protease inhibitors sell for $20 to $30
per day, and they require the help of Norvir to be
effective, Fahey-Widman said. Norvir is the low-
est priced component of most HIV patients' drug
regimens, she said.
Fahey-Widman said that company officials
have responded to the physicians' protests by
permanently freezing the cost of Norvir for
patients in government treatment programs,
expanding patient assistance programs by elimi-
nating low-income requirements and attempting
to meet face-to-face with the physicians to hear
any concerns.
"Abbott is committed to ensuring that every
patient has access to the drug," she said. "If a
30TH ANNIVERSARY
patient does not have prescription drug insurance
— public or private — we give it to them for free
regardless of their income level."
About 55 percent of FHV patients in treatment
are involved in government programs, and only 1
percent use Norvir as their only protease
inhibitor, Fahey-Widman said.
Bellos said that his physicians group is hear-
ing numerous complaints from patients whose
insurance companies require them to pay a per-
centage of their drug costs rather than a flat pre-
scription copay.
"Abbott's stance is that it will affect a minor-
ity of patients, and I don't think that's been our
experience," Bellos said. "Our experience has
been that if affects a majority of patients.
We have one of the largest private practices in
the country [with 3,800 HIV patients]. We're
going to be seeing these things sooner simply
because of the volume of our patients rolling in
and complaining."
Fahey-Widman said that the company has not
received any complaints from insurance compa-
nies because HIV drugs represent a small per-
centage of the nation's drug treatment costs. The
company's expanded patient assistance program
should take care of any patient's financial con-
cerns, she said.
"We haven't heard about a single patient who
has not been able to have access to this drug
[since the financial assistance program was
expanded]," she said.
Continued on Next Page
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Vercher, Dennis. Dallas Voice (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 20, No. 44, Ed. 1 Friday, March 5, 2004, newspaper, March 5, 2004; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth238884/m1/11/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.