HIV+Hep in the News

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A national PrEP plan is needed

by | Jun 15, 2022

Carl Schmid, executive director of the HIV and Hepatitis Policy Initiative in Washington, D.C., told us that a national PrEP program would lessen disparities among Black and Brown people that have been ongoing since the advent of PrEP nearly 10 years ago. As most readers know, PrEP, when taken as prescribed, is extremely effective in preventing HIV transmission. It’s now available as both a daily oral pill as well as a longer-acting injectable. “Expanding PrEP use is essential in our nation’s work to end the HIV epidemic,” the letter states.

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Vaccine access advocacy groups speak out as COVID IP waiver talks heat up

by | Jun 14, 2022

on June 8, a group of eight patient organizations delivered a letter to the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) urging it to reject any proposal to waive IP protections for COVID-19 vaccines. The letter, like several other letters that have been sent by members of Congress leading up to the Conference, instead focused on “solutions to the real problems preventing vaccine access and equity globally,” and made the following recommendations: 1. Strengthen and maintain healthcare infrastructure to deliver the COVID-19 vaccine safely and efficiently, such as storage and last-mile capacity; 2. Support frontline healthcare workers to administer the COVID-19 vaccine; and 3. Launch public education programs to combat vaccine misinformation and hesitancy and increase vaccination rates among vulnerable populations. The signatories to the letter included the Autoimmune Association; the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute; the International Cancer Advocacy Network; the Lupus Foundation of America; the National Grange Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease; the Partnership to Fight Infectious Disease; and RetireSafe.

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Lessons of HIV inform fight against COVID

by | Jun 7, 2022

“We needed to act quickly, but our actions still needed to be based on science,” said Carl Schmid, executive director of the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute, who notes that COVID-19 benefited as much from HIV talent as did HIV knowledge. For example, Anthony Fauci, the face of the federal response to the COVID pandemic, once served as the AIDS coordinator for NIH, and in 1988 became the first director of the institutes’ Office of AIDS Research. “If you look at the people who were responding to COVID, they all came from the HIV world . . . . Even the head of HIV prevention at the CDC was detailed for months and months on the COVID response,” Schmid said.

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MPP announces licensing plan for global generic PrEP production

by | Jun 1, 2022

The United Nations-backed Medicines Patent Pool announced a potential licensing agreement Friday (May 27) that would allow low- and middle-income countries to manufacture generic versions of injectable pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV. Cabotegravir is administered monthly or every two months, so wide-spread availability of the drug would go a long way toward reaching the goal of ending the HIV epidemic, MPP Executive Director Charles Gore said.

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FTC urged to probe PBMs after Democratic commissioner confirmed

by | May 25, 2022

Generic drug makers and more than 100 patient organizations are among those urging FTC to investigate PBMs. About 80% of prescription drug transactions are handled by three PBMs, and patients organizations say that consolidation gives those three PBMs far too much power over which drugs are available. “Often this interferes with the decisions of medical providers and, due to high patient cost-sharing, makes prescription drugs unaffordable for many patients. This not only impacts the health of the patients we represent but the health of the entire country and healthcare spending in other areas if patients are not able to access and afford the medications that their providers prescribe,” the patient groups wrote in a joint comment letter.

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