Serostim CoPay Assistance Program Announced
Results of Recent HIV Vaccine Clinical Trial Questioned
NASTAD Reports on ADAP Waiting ListsStudy Highlights HIV/AIDS
AIDS Activists Call Bloomberg Out
Lipstick Color Created for World AIDS Day to Benefit South Carolina ASO
If you’ll be attending the U.S. Conference on AIDS in San Francisco, October 29-31, be sure to look for the Positively Aware/Test Positive Aware Network exhibit at Booth #178. Copies of our latest issues, as well as a limited number of the 2009 HIV Drug Guide will be available. Drop by and say hello!
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Serostim CoPay Assistance Program Announced
On October 15 EMD Serono announced their co-pay program for Serostim, the only recombinant human growth hormone approved by the FDA for the treatment of HIV-associated wasting or cachexia. The program will cover from dollar one up to $200 for up to six co-pays in a 12-month period. Individuals must get their co-pay card from their health care provider. They do not need to do anything to activate the card. The card comes attached to a form for those who need to pay their co-pay up front and get reimbursed, as is the case with some mail order pharmacies. If the mail order pharmacy is setup for a 2-payer system it should take the card. Those who get their medications through Medicare, Medicaid, or a state AIDS Drug Assistance Program, as well as residents of Massachusetts, are ineligible for the co-pay program. Visit www.rxhope.com or call (800) 714-2437 for more information on their patient assistance program for those who qualify and whose prescription medications are not covered by insurance.
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Results of Recent HIV Vaccine Clinical Trial Questioned
Weeks after the report of a clinical trial’s results showing an experimental HIV vaccine offered some potential protection against the virus, the Wall Street Journal reports, "A second analysis of the $105 million study, not disclosed publicly, suggests the results may have been a fluke, according to AIDS scientists who have seen it. The second analysis, which is considered a vital component of any vaccine study, shows the results weren't statistically significant, these scientists said, suggesting that the results could have been due to chance and that the vaccine may not be effective."
According to the report, “The data from the second analysis ‘were available to the researchers on September 24 when they announced the trial results, but they chose not to disclose them,’ said Jerome Kim, a U.S. Army scientist who was involved in the study.” The incomplete disclosure raises the question of whether the U.S. Army, the Thai government and the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) jumped the gun to give a positive spin to what might actually be another disappointingly inconclusive AIDS-vaccine study.
The researchers’ skepticism was first reported last week in Science Insider, the blog of the journal Science. A leading HIV/AIDS investigator said, "The press conference was not a scholarly, rigorously honest presentation ... It doesn't meet the standards that have been set for other trials, and it doesn't fully present the borderline results. It's wrong."
The blog continues, "Colonels Nelson Michael and Jerome Kim, researchers with the U.S. Army who helped run the study, strongly objected to the assertion that they gave the data a positive spin."
"We needed to get enough information out so we could give the world community a fair glimpse of what we've learned. We tried very carefully to make sure that message was crystal clear," Michael said, adding, "A paper under review at The New England Journal of Medicine describes both analyses, and all the findings will be discussed on October 20 at an open AIDS vaccine meeting in Paris."
Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the NIH, which financed the trial, agreed that different analyses of the data could show a weaker effect. But he said the report released on September 24, which included every participant in the trial rather than only the ones who stayed in the study to completion and got all the doses of the vaccine, was “the gold standard.” Fauci added that putting several biostatistical analyses in a news release “would have confused everybody.”
But others who have seen the research say that “a 'per protocol' analysis,” that is, how the vaccine worked among the people who got all six vaccine shots at the right time and were followed up to the trial's end, would show that the results were not statistically significant.
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NASTAD Reports on ADAP Waiting Lists
On September 8, the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors (NASTAD) released their latest “ADAP Watch.” According to the report, “As of August 19, 2009, there were 157 individuals on AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) waiting lists in seven states. This is an increase of 58 individuals since the last ADAP Watch in June 2009.
It is obvious that increased demand for ADAP services is a direct result of lost employment and medical coverage due to the state of the national economy. Therefore, increased federal funding is needed to continue to serve current clients and to provide for new ones seeking ADAP and other Ryan White services.
The President’s budget for fiscal year 2010 requests $2.3 billion for the Ryan White Program, an increase of $54 million over the 2009 budget. The House of Representatives and the Senate Appropriations Committee both provide a $20 million increase for state ADAPs for a total of $835 million and a $10 million increase for the Part B Base for a total of $419 million.
ADAPs provide life-saving HIV treatments to low income, uninsured, and underinsured individuals living with HIV/AIDS in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, American Samoa, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands. In addition, some ADAPs provide insurance continuation and Medicare Part B wrap-around services to eligible individuals.
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AIDS Activists Call Bloomberg Out
New York’s Housing Works issued a press release on October 14 reporting that a rally organized by a coalition of AIDS groups will be held on October 20 outside of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s campaign headquarters to protest Bloomberg’s failure to state his positions on an array of pressing AIDS issues before the upcoming November election. The rally will also confront Bloomberg for failing to reform New York City’s outdated AIDS housing policies and attempts to cut HIV-prevention funding.
Bloomberg has not only turned down an invitation to participate in an AIDS-focused mayoral forum sponsored by AIDSVote.org, but also refused to fill out AIDSVote.org’s candidate questionnaire. Every candidate for New York City Public Advocate and Comptroller either participated in an AIDSvote.org forum or filled out and an AIDSVote questionnaire.
“Mayor Bloomberg does not want to fill out the AIDSVote questionnaire because he is trying to dupe New Yorkers into thinking that he has provided leadership in the fight against AIDS. His website, which barely mentions AIDS, reflects the reality of Bloomberg’s neglect of the crisis. The Mayor has systematically tried to cut funding for AIDS housing and HIV prevention,” said Housing Works President and CEO Charles King.
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Lipstick Color Created for World AIDS Day to Benefit South Carolina ASO
Trish McEvoy, owner of a national cosmetic company, has created a lip color exclusively for Lowcountry AIDS Services (LAS), located in Charleston, South Carolina. McEvoy, wanted to do something unique to express her support for the fight against HIV/AIDS.
The name of the lip color is Gorgeous Red. It will be introduced in the Charleston area in support of World AIDS Day on December 1. The lip color will be available starting November 13 through the holiday season and will retail for $22.00. It will eventually be launched nationwide, but all those sold in Charleston at Saks Fifth Avenue on King Street and at Gwynn's in Mount Pleasant, will be labeled differently and $3.50 per tube will go directly to LAS to support their programs.
LAS provides case management, support groups, financial assistance, legal services, and education to more than 700 clients annually.
LAS will be one of the agencies featured in PA’s January/February 2010 issue which will focus on the challenges surrounding access to HIV care in non-urban areas.
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