Courtside
Pharma
giant Abbott’s 400 percent Norvir price hike was not only the top AIDS
story of 2004, as recognized in your magazine, but the top
prescription-drug story, period [“A Bitter Pill,” January 2005]. This
naked grab for market shares symbolizes everything that’s wrong with
the pharmaceutical industry. Abbott has refused to budge, even in the
face of unprecedented advocate and medical pressure, but the courts can
still challenge and confront it. The Prescription Access Litigation
Project is involved in a California class-action suit against Abbott on
behalf of health-care insurers and union funds—which bear most of the
hike’s costs. Recently, the court denied Abbott’s motion to dismiss,
allowing our case to proceed. When drug companies hold patients hostage
to their greed, we are all threatened, but consumers are continuing to
fight the outrageous tactics.
Renée Markus Hodin
Associate Director
Prescription Access Litigation Project
Boston
Tea Cells
“The
English Patients” [January 2005] valiantly touches on the complexity of
the HIV crisis in what you call drugged-out, desperate Britain. I want
to add that Britain’s politically correct climate prevents us
from addressing all of our
prevention concerns. You’ve only got to
look at the increasing new diagnoses to realize that the campaigns
targeted at HIV negative individuals are not working. And surely, the
problem isn’t just poor funding, but also the failures of current
spending. So, we ask, should we shift the focus of prevention from
negatives to positives? Then we must deal with stigma, since without
stigma, PWAs might feel more comfortable disclosing our status before sex. We might even negotiate safer sex, perhaps even reducing the transmission rate to zero.
Stephen Bitti
Chief Executive, UK Coalition of People Living With HIV and AIDS
London
The Marriage Box
Sean
Strub’s “Founder’s Letter” about AIDS activism in a second Bush term
[January 2005] told me that same-sex marriage activists are not alone
in our dismay with those who relinquished the fight for political
justice to nonprofit executive directors and other political leaders.
Some of these leaders have called for moderating goals in the
marriage-rights fight— this is our own worst political nightmare, not
the Republicans. I for one will somehow muster greater energy to fight
discrimination and live a life of integrity. I trust that due to
Strub’s inspiring words on reclaiming power, HIVers will, too.
Jesus Lebron
New York City
Pointing North
Is
my New Year’s resolution related to my health or HIV? [POZ.com Poll,
January 2005]. Yes! I resolved to do everything I can to ensure that
the HIV-related health care and services I have here in Canada are
improved, not further eroded. We are blessed with universal health
care, but we aren’t perfect. The ugly realities include the plight of
first-nations people, homeless people and drug abusers. And at the
Infectious Disease Clinic at Vancouver’s St. Paul’s Hospital we have
lost our director, our sole psychiatrist and many of our beds. Yet
fellow HIVers remain oblivious to the fact that the house they feel so
secure in is teetering on a precipice, ready to tumble over the edge
with the next fiscal sneer of the government.
Michael Connidis
Vancouver
Dive Deeper
I
find it hard to identify with Greg Louganis and his bouts with
depression [“Coming Up for Air,” January 2005]. He has worldwide
fame, Olympic gold medals, book deals, million-dollar commercial
endorsements and a biographical TV movie. I doubt he has ever had to
spend hours in a Social Security office awaiting disability benefits or
to declare personal bankruptcy, live in subsidized, substandard housing
or wait endlessly in filthy, poorly staffed public health clinics for
bare-minimum health care. If you want to put a true face on depression
and HIV, speak to the cash-strapped thousands who must worry about
their next meal and dealing with ASOs experiencing government-funding
cuts.
Anonymous
Philadelphia
Correction: “Legal Eye”
(Feb/March 2005) advised readers to “try the yellow pages” to find a
lawyer. It should have read “try your local legal services office or
ASO or a national legal agency such as Lambda Legal or the ACLU.”
