Bill-Signing Extends AIDS Drug Program

A county-run program that dispenses the life-prolonging drug AZT to AIDS patients for free, saw its own life extended last weekend when Gov. George Deukmejian announced he signed legislation allocating $2.8 million to AZT programs throughout California.

Orange County’s share of the money should allow it to operate its AZT program through next spring, forestalling plans to begin phasing the program out at the end of this month, Dr. L. Rex Ehling, the county’s director of public health, said Monday.

“It’ll keep the wolves from the door until about May,” Ehling said, although he added that the county does not yet know exactly how much of the $2.8 million it will get.

“The state has said it will reapportion the money based on need,” said Catherine Reyes, Ehling’s program support manager. “All I can tell you is we’ll need more than the $301,000 we got in January” if the program keeps growing at the current rate.

Reyes said the number of patients served by the Orange County program increased from six at the end of its first month of operation to 71 at the end of last month. The cost of the program, she said, has risen proportionately, from about $2,000 monthly in January to $41,000 at the end of August.

The county began dispensing AZT, or azidothymydine, in January of this year as part of a pilot program funded through a one-time, $301,702 grant from the federal government. The money was to be spent to provide the drug to AIDS patients who could not otherwise afford it.

AZT, which costs about $700 a month for each patient, retards the progression of AIDS, which is not yet curable. It is the only drug the federal government has approved for use in AIDS treatment.

An AIDS patient qualifies for the free drug if his or her income is less than $40,000 annually. The federal program was scheduled to officially end on Sept. 30, but Orange County still had about $139,000 of its grant left at the end of August, said Reyes, which is enough to continue operating until mid-December.

Statewide, according to the latest figures available, 769 people were enrolled in AZT-dispensing programs as of July, said Anna Ramirez, of the state Department of Health Services Office of AIDS.

State officials are hoping that the federal government eventually will allocate more money for AZT programs, Ramirez said. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) has considered sponsoring legislation to get federal money for such programs, but no bill has been introduced, a member of her staff said Monday.

Looking to Spring

Ehling said he is hoping that federal money will be available by the spring so the Orange County program will not have to shut down after the newly allocated state money runs out.

That money is part of a $48-million grant that will be allocated to health-related programs under bills that were signed by Deukmejian as a compromise with the Legislature over the current state budget.

The package also includes $216 million to help the state begin taking over funding of trial courts.