Last week’s Gilead protest caravan in Southern California featured a
hearse, a double-deck bus and 40+ cars outfitted with "Gilead Greed
Kills" banners and placards. It also included a small plane towing a
“Gilead Greed Kills” banner over the resort. (Video
of plane @ SoCal Gilead protest) The protests came about following a
recent and blistering LA
Times article that exposed the Gilead’s patent manipulation of its
best-selling HIV drugs containing tenofovir.
“In addition to protesting the $1,000-plus pricing of Gilead’s hepatitis C drugs Harvoni and Sovaldi, our protests serve as a reminder of Gilead’s previous bad deeds in its drug pricing and policies,” said Dale R. Gluth, Bay Area Regional Director for AHF, in anticipation of the Foster City protest. “In late 2012, within days of FDA-approval of Gilead’s four-in-one AIDS treatment combination Stribild, the company priced that treatment at $28,500 per patient, per year, Wholesale Acquisition Cost (WAC). For the record, $28,500 is more than most U.S. AIDS patients earn in any given year!”
In a lawsuit filed earlier this year, AHF alleges that Gilead halted its early research of the form of tenofovir known as TAF in order to extend its patent on its existing HIV medication—TDF, which yielded billions of dollars in annual sales. While Gilead argues that the move was only to shift attention toward another type of HIV medicine, their lawyers also maintain that the company “had no duty to develop, test, seek approval of, or launch its new product on any particular timetable.” Meanwhile, HIV patients only had access to the more-harmful version of Gilead’s drug, which had damaging effects on their kidneys and bones.
"Gilead’s history of predatory pricing on its lifesaving medications—first on its HIV drugs, and now, for its hepatitis medications—sets the stage for protests like ours as well as for direct action from government officials and drug purchasers for government programs seeking to compel Gilead to cut its outrageous pricing. This is the just start of a new and ongoing campaign of protests highlighting Gilead’s unbridled greed,” said AIDS advocate Jesse Brooks.
In response to Gilead’s patent manipulation for higher profits, AHF is also asking Congress and the FDA to conduct a formal investigation of Gilead as well as increased scrutiny of the actions of pharmaceutical companies. AHF also is running a print ad in several LGBT news outlets across the country highlighting the issue.
“In addition to protesting the $1,000-plus pricing of Gilead’s hepatitis C drugs Harvoni and Sovaldi, our protests serve as a reminder of Gilead’s previous bad deeds in its drug pricing and policies,” said Dale R. Gluth, Bay Area Regional Director for AHF, in anticipation of the Foster City protest. “In late 2012, within days of FDA-approval of Gilead’s four-in-one AIDS treatment combination Stribild, the company priced that treatment at $28,500 per patient, per year, Wholesale Acquisition Cost (WAC). For the record, $28,500 is more than most U.S. AIDS patients earn in any given year!”
In a lawsuit filed earlier this year, AHF alleges that Gilead halted its early research of the form of tenofovir known as TAF in order to extend its patent on its existing HIV medication—TDF, which yielded billions of dollars in annual sales. While Gilead argues that the move was only to shift attention toward another type of HIV medicine, their lawyers also maintain that the company “had no duty to develop, test, seek approval of, or launch its new product on any particular timetable.” Meanwhile, HIV patients only had access to the more-harmful version of Gilead’s drug, which had damaging effects on their kidneys and bones.
"Gilead’s history of predatory pricing on its lifesaving medications—first on its HIV drugs, and now, for its hepatitis medications—sets the stage for protests like ours as well as for direct action from government officials and drug purchasers for government programs seeking to compel Gilead to cut its outrageous pricing. This is the just start of a new and ongoing campaign of protests highlighting Gilead’s unbridled greed,” said AIDS advocate Jesse Brooks.
In response to Gilead’s patent manipulation for higher profits, AHF is also asking Congress and the FDA to conduct a formal investigation of Gilead as well as increased scrutiny of the actions of pharmaceutical companies. AHF also is running a print ad in several LGBT news outlets across the country highlighting the issue.
No comments:
Post a Comment