Nearly 800 are on
ADAP waiting lists in nine states

Nearly 800 poor Americans are waiting for anti-HIV medications from government-funded programs that serve as the last resort for many patients who cannot afford costly treatments, according to an annual survey released on Thursday. Several U.S. states also have been forced to take cost-savings steps such as reducing the number of medicines covered by their AIDS Drug Assistance Programs, the report said.

In many cases ADAPs are the last option for obtaining medicines for poor people who are HIV-positive and have limited or no insurance.

"The need for HIV-related medications continues to outstrip their availability," said the report by the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit health research organization, and the National Association of State and Territorial AIDS Directors.

As of February, nine states reported waiting lists with a total of 791 people. The states were Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Alabama, the report said.

ADAPs serve more than 134,000 patients, about one quarter of all people in the United States receiving HIV care. Funding comes from states and the federal government.

The report authors said Congress should consider ways to reduce waiting lists as lawmakers work to reauthorize the law that created ADAPs and other AIDS assistance programs.

Without changes, "ADAPs will continue to have to make difficult trade-off decisions between serving more people with less services or serving less people with more services," the report said.

In June 2005, ADAPs spent about $102.6 million to provide medications to 96,404 patients, the report said. Drug costs per person were $1,064 during that month. Most of the money went to pay for antiretroviral drugs that can extend the lives of HIV patients by years.

Benefits vary greatly between states and the number of drugs they cover. Thirty-five states covered all HIV antiretroviral drugs as of September 2005.

A task force that formed in 2002 to address funding shortfalls had negotiated lower prices with drugmakers that saved ADAPs about $90 million in 2004 and $145 million in 2005, the report said. (Reuters)