Table of Contents

• Tipranavir (Aptivus): Approval Cautiously Recommended
  A new protease inhibitor active against most HIV that is resistant to other protease inhibitors is likely to be approved in the U.S. soon, after an 11-3 vote of an advisory committee.

• ADAP Status Now: What You Can Do
  This short review of the current state of the AIDS Drug Assistance Program tells how you can get involved.

• Medicaid: Out-of-Pocket Expenses and Access to Care
  A 27-page report by the Kaiser Family Foundation examined 13 different studies showing how increased out-of-pocket costs keep people out of care.
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• Lexiva: Blood Levels Not Lowered When Taken Simultaneously With Nexium
  A study suggested that the two drugs might be used together, without lowering the blood level of Lexiva. But the timing of the doses may be critical.

• New Conference for Frontline Clinicians, September 15-18
  Ten government agencies are organizing a four-day clinical conference for physicians, nurses, and other healthcare professionals involved in HIV treatment.

• Medical Innovation Prize Fund: New Idea in Drug Development
  This proposal, now introduced in Congress as HR 417, would replace current drug marketing with a system better designed to reward effective innovation. All drugs would be treated as generics immediately when approved by the FDA, and patent holders would be rewarded from a $60 billion a year award fund for innovations that actually led to better health.

• Medical Innovation and Patent Gridlock
  Is today's sheer multitude of biological patents (especially on genetics of human beings or human pathogens) killing medical innovation -- in addition to generating prohibitive prices for vital medical care?

ISSN # 1052-4207

Copyright 2005 by John S. James. Permission granted for noncommercial reproduction, provided that our address and phone number are included if more than short quotations are used.