Yesterday was World AIDS Day. In 1989, the first drugs to slow the progression of HIV were introduced. They were attacked for being too expensive and showing no survival benefit. According to critics then and now, it was a drug that did not deserve to be priced at $10K a year (about $20K in today's dollars). Ditto next generation medicines. Alarms about the lifetime costs of therapy were raised. Only rarely did people look at the economic and social value of these new treatments.
Here's a snapshot of what the impact HIV would have today on hospitalization, hospital costs and hospital deaths if we had listened to the naysayers. Data for chart below is from Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), based on data collected by individual States and provided to AHRQ by the States for the Clinical Classification Code for HIV
Here's a snapshot of what the impact HIV would have today on hospitalization, hospital costs and hospital deaths if we had listened to the naysayers. Data for chart below is from Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), based on data collected by individual States and provided to AHRQ by the States for the Clinical Classification Code for HIV
