08/05/2004: 
Criminally Absurd
HIV drug price left alone
The Sacramento Bee
HIV activists hoping the government would intervene in Abbott Laboratories' decision last year to hike the price of its important AIDS drug, Norvir, have lost one round in their battle.
On Wednesday, the National Institutes of Health denied a request by a consumer group and several members of Congress to exercise its authority to permit competitors to manufacture generic, cheaper versions of the drug.
Norvir, used to boost the effectiveness of other AIDS medicines, was developed with the help of an NIH grant. The company increased its price by more than 400 percent last December, setting off a national protest, including a physician boycott of Abbott.
