WILMINGTON, Del.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF):

Healthcare advocates from across the northeast region will protest the recent actions of AstraZeneca, in cutting back the number of critical life-saving drugs provided at discounted rates to non-profit healthcare providers, through the federal 340B drug discount program.

The federal 340B Drug Discount Program is a lifeline that allows safety net providers, including HIV/AIDS clinics receiving funding through the Ryan White program, to obtain prescription drugs at below-retail prices. The program was established with bipartisan support as part of the Veterans Health Care Act of 1992. With 340B savings, Ryan White clinics are able to stretch their grant funds, offer a wider range of services, and improve the quality of care persons living with HIV/AIDS receive. The program also benefits qualified 340B covered entities such as non-profit rural health facilities, community clinics and children’s hospitals that serve vulnerable populations.

Tomorrow’s protest, led by healthcare advocates from AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), follows a lawsuit filed by Ryan White Clinics for 340B Access (RWC-340B) against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, to require the HHS secretary to take action against AstraZeneca and three other pharmaceutical companies, including Eli Lilly, Novartis and the U.S. division of Sanofi-Aventis which are illegally withholding drugs they are required to sell through the 340B program. With tomorrow’s protest, AHF is demanding that these greedy pharmaceutical companies stop their bullying tactics that will have a devastating impact on the healthcare and well-being of our most vulnerable populations (see LITIGATION PRESS RELEASE). RWC340B also recently released a study on the potential adverse impact of policies reducing resources to Ryan White clinics, see WHITE PAPER, PRESS RELEASE, and FACT SHEET.

“AstraZeneca has launched an assault on a federal drug discount program essential to the safety net of our nation’s health care,” stated John Hassell, AHF’s national director of advocacy. “They are messing with the numerous health care centers and hospitals on the front-lines of the COVID-19 pandemic, and denying discount drugs to these facilities, required by law, just to increase their profits. Why can’t AstraZeneca put people over profits?”

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and/or services to over 1.4 million individuals in 45 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region and Eastern Europe. To learn more about AHF, please visit our website: www.aidshealth.org, find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/aidshealth and follow us @aidshealthcare.

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