Boehringer-Ingelheim and Gilead Sciences took the step in response to entreaties by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which last March sent letters to nine drugmakers requesting their freeze their prices in light of the tight budgets facing state AIDS drug-assistance programs.

The non-profit, which runs free AIDS treatment clinics in the US, Africa, Asia and Latin America, commended BI and Gilead, but continued to express disappointment that other drugmakers contacted - Roche, Abbott Labs, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Pfizer, Glaxo and Tibotec - remain non-committal at best. (Click on a drugmaker to read its reply). Merck has not responded at all, according to AHF.

“We urge the other drug companies to follow BI’s and Gilead’s lead and to freeze price increases that create an unnecessary burden on an already overburdened public health system and keep lifesaving drugs out reach for those who need them,” says AHF president Michael Weinstein, in a statement.

The AHF argues that price increases have consistently eroded funding increases received by federal and state AIDS treatment programs. For example, earlier this year the President’s fiscal 2009 budget called for a moderate funding increase for Part B of the HIV/AIDS CARE Act that included an additional $6 million for AIDS Drug Assistance Programs. However, this additional money is expected to be largely offset by an estimated 2.88 percent price hike, based on the Consumer Price Index, according to AHF.

In its reply to AHF, BI wrote that it extended its freeze on prices of its AIDS meds by one year, until May 1, 2009. Gilead agreed to suspend price hikes until December 31, 2010. The Gilead letter, by the way, is signed by Gregg Alton who, in addition to being Gilead’s general counsel, also serves on AHF’s board.