STAT+: Gilead wants state AIDS drug programs to pay significant price hikes for HIV meds

Gilead Sciences, the largest maker of HIV medicines, is seeking to boost prices significantly for several treatments that are widely distributed by state AIDS Drug Assistance Programs. And the move is adding to financial uncertainty for the programs on top of concerns prompted by Trump administration funding cuts.

The company recently told the state programs that it wants to raise prices in the high-single digits, on average, as part of a new agreement scheduled to go into effect in January 2026. The state ADAPs, which are federally funded, currently provide free or low-cost medicines to about 110,000 low-income people nationwide with HIV and AIDS who lack sufficient health care coverage.

The proposal has unnerved ADAP directors, who are still negotiating with the company. State ADAPs “stand at a critical precipice,” Mike Weir, legislative and policy affairs director at the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors (NASTAD), wrote in an email last month to HIV community programs around the country. The nonprofit supports public health officials who run state ADAP programs.

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