Pharmaceutical companies Gilead Sciences Inc. and Boehringer-Ingelheim GmbH will stop price increases on HIV/AIDS medications for U.S. federal agencies, according to an AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) June 3 announcement reported on Bloomberg.com (Bloomberg.com, 6/3).

Gilead—maker of Truvada—will halt price increases to three U.S. federal and state agencies through December 31, 2010. Boehringer will freeze prices on its drug Aptivus for state AIDS programs through May 1, 2009.

“We urge the other drug companies to follow [Boehringer’s] and Gilead’s lead and to freeze price increases that create an unnecessary burden on an already overburdened public health system and keep lifesaving drugs out of reach for those who need them,” said AHF president Michael Weinstein in a statement.