Suit Over AIDS Drug Price Hike

(AP) Aetna Inc. has sued pharmaceutical maker Abbott Laboratories Inc., accusing it of seeking a monopoly on AIDS drugs by raising the price of its popular drug Norvir by 400 percent.

In the suit filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco, the Hartford-based health insurer cited Abbott's December decision to raise the wholesale price for 120 100-milligram Norvir capsules from about $206 to $1,028.

Norvir was not a major AIDS drug on its own, but is increasingly used in small doses to boost the potency of some AIDS combination-drug therapies.

"By means of this staggering price hike, Abbott added drastically to the cost of regimens using Norvir to boost competing protease inhibitors," Aetna said in its lawsuit filed Tuesday. Protease inhibitors are drugs that block HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

Aetna, which is seeking a jury trial, said Abbott's actions have had a "chilling effect" on research by competitors that are developing protease inhibitors.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/05/27/health/main619963.shtml

SNIP

Tis is fucking disgusting! And people wonder why health insurance is sky rocketing!