Several manufacturers of leading antiretroviral drugs increased wholesale acquisition cost (WAC) prices at the beginning of this year, despite an open letter submitted by the Fair Pricing Coalition and more than 150 signatories in November 2016 expressing concern about future price increases. 

In January 2017, ViiV, Gilead, Bristol-Myers Squibb, AbbVie, Janssen and Merck reported increases in WAC pricing for leading antiretrovirals, ranging from a 4.9% to 7.9% increase.  In its letter, the Fair Pricing Coalition called for manufacturers to refrain from price increases and also not to increase prices above the overall increase in the medical consumer price index (CPI) for the preceding year.  The medical CPI is a measure of inflation for several categories of medical care.  The 2017 WAC price increases for HIV medications, however, are higher than all of the medical CPI categories, which average 2-3%.