Fewer people statewide are waiting for HIV/AIDS medication on the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) wait list.
According to the Florida Department of Health, 800 people remain on the wait list, an 81% drop from September when more than 4,100 people were waiting for HIV/AIDS drugs. The program has been in a funding crisis since last year, which led to the creation of the wait list June 1, 2010.
The AIDS Institute hosted a Florida Bureau of HIV/AIDS Patient Care Webinar this month which outlined changes to the ADAP waiting list. It was stated in that webinar that nearly $9 million in Ryan White federal funds and $6.9 million in federal emergency relief funds directed toward ADAP's funding crisis allowed health officials to start removing people from the waiting list Sept. 1.
However, the head of Florida's Bureau of HIV/AIDS warned that the list will continue to exist at least through the 2012 fiscal year.
The Bureau initially tried to cut costs by reducing eligibility to the ADAP program from 400% of the federal poverty level to 200%, but community complaints led to keeping the 400% eligible.
The state is, however, reducing the number of medications available to ADAP participants.
The Bureau chief also broke down what president Barack Obama's announcement Dec. 1 that the administration will increase funding for treatment of HIV/AIDS will mean to HIV/AIDS services programs in the Sunshine State. Florida could receive up to $3.5 million for ADAP.
There were two other recent announcements regarding HIV/AIDS in Florida. On Nov. 30, the National Institutes of Health awarded Scripps Research Institute a $3.4 million grant for research into a potential HIV/AIDS treatment. Scripps Florida assistant professor Susana Valente is researching a viral protein called Tat, which is not targeted by current HIV therapies.
And on Dec. 6, Mayo Clinic in Florida announced that it will now offer kidney and pancreas transplants to HIV-positive patients with advanced kidney disease and diabetes, citing evidence that HIV-positive patients have the same favorable outcome in terms of patient and allograft survival as non-HIV positive organ transplant recipients.
