The controversy over the high price of AIDS drugs is not limited to AZT, the antiviral medication that can cost patients as much as $550 a month. AIDS activists are assailing the high price of pentamidine, a medication that helps prevent a deadly form of pneumonia among people infected with the AIDS virus. The drug's manufacturer, Lyphomed of Rosemont, Ill., holds the exclusive license for pentamidine (brand name: NebuPent) in the U.S., where the drug retails for $110 to $200 for a month's supply.
Lyphomed defends its pentamidine price by citing high research-and- developmen t costs. The firm announced last June...