NEW YORK - February 19 - Members of ACT UP/NY and ACT UP/Philadelphia (the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) stormed the Whippany, NJ manufacturing facility of Abbott Laboratories at 11:50 this morning, chanting "Abbott Lies, We Die: Drop the price of Norvir!" The activists showered the facility with "blood money" and left a funeral wreath in protest of deaths that will occur due to increasing pharmaceutical price-gouging.

Abbott recently increased the price of its AIDS drug Norvir (ritonavir) by 400%, even though the drug was approved over eight years ago and has garnered over $1.3 billion in sales to date. The drug, too toxic to take at full dose, is used at 1/3 to 1/6 of its original dose to boost the effect of other protease inhibitors, often in people who are treating drug resistant HIV. Because the price of Kaletra (Abbott's own protease inhibitor that also contains Norvir), is unaffected by the price hike many leaders in the AIDS community, including hundreds of HIV physicians, charge the price hike is simply a way for the company to gain market share. Currently competing protease inhibitors are priced in the same range as Kaletra, but with the price hike will be much more expensive.

"Abbott's decision to raise the price of Norvir will cost lives around the country. Public healthcare and private insurance systems will be further undermined by this hike," said Mark Milano of ACT UP/NY. Last year AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPs), which provide drugs to uninsured or underinsured people with HIV, in seven states were forced to cap enrollment. Some patients died while on waiting lists to enter the programs. After intense pressure from activists, Abbott announced it will not charge ADAPs more, but the hike will exacerbate ADAP cash flow problems since ADAPs purchase the drug from local pharmacies at the full price and only months later are reimbursed through a cumbersome rebate system. Abbott continues to demand the higher price from private insurers, causing individuals to reach their spending caps sooner and leading to untenable co-pays in some cases.

The Norvir price hike makes it the highest-priced HIV drug if used at full dose: over $45,000. This hike will also affect the price of drugs in development that rely on Norvir for boosting. Tipranavir, being developed by Boehringer Ingelheim, requires boosting with Norvir of up to 400 mg. The Norvir price hike will send its price above that of Fuzeon, the most expensive antiretroviral drug ever developed (over $20,000 a year).

Abbott's decision to maximize profit has been harshly by the HIV Medicine Association. Over 300 HIV specialists have announced a boycott of Abbott products across all disease areas, designed to pressure Abbott to roll back the price of Norvir.

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