State pumps nearly $5 million into new HIV drugs for poor citizens

By Associated Press

AUSTIN (AP) - Most of a $5 million state health fund will be used to purchase new drugs to combat HIV, according to a plan announced by state health officials.

The Texas Health Department faced a decision this month whether to focus an anti-HIV program for the poor on the latest drugs to fight the virus that causes AIDS.

The department had to choose between that option and another plan to continue purchasing additional drugs that fight illnesses brought on by the disease, such as pneumonia.

A panel had recommended a plan that would have forced some 5,000 poor Texans with HIV to go elsewhere for medications for AIDS-related illnesses.

But Health Commissioner David Smith said Monday that the department will not leave poor people on their own to purchase those medications. He said most of the HIV Medication Program's $5 million will go to new HIV drugs, but some money will continue to go to other medications.

Smith also said an additional $500,000 will be added to the fund to help purchase medications for AIDS-related illnesses.

"We are grateful and pleased for the additional funds the commissioner was able to find to continue supplying certain drugs to the indigent HIV population," said Tom Sheffield, chairman of the Austin Area Comprehensive HIV Planning Council.

The added $500,000 was expected to last through June, Smith said. The department was searching for other funds to continue the additional medication purchasing through the end of the year.
The latest treatment for AIDS is a combination of two to three drugs that can cost into the hundreds and thousands of dollars per patient each month based in part on dosage.

According to the department, between 49,400 and 71,100 Texans have HIV.