North Carolina: HIV/AIDS Funding Cut Won't Limit Treatment

Health officials say a $3 million cut to the 2009-10 budget of the state AIDS Drug Assistance Program should not affect the patients who count on it for their medicines. "[ADAP] is really solid," said Addison Ore, director of the Triad Health Project, which advocates for Guilford County's approximately 1,600 HIV/AIDS patients. The funding cut will, however, result in a change in the way ADAP stockpiles drugs: It will now reserve just one month's supply instead of six. "Why you want a six-month reserve is in case of emergencies or a reduction in the supply chain," said Dr. Jeffrey Engle, state health director. He noted that more manufacturers now make the drugs ADAP provides -- which include medications for other conditions like depression in addition to HIV infection -- than when the program first established the goal of a six-month back-up supply. "The other thing about AIDS drugs now is that there are so many of them that a clinician may be able to substitute one for another," Engle added.

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