FOSTER CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Yesterday, AIDS advocates delivered two large mail bags stuffed with 1,593 letters addressed to Gilead Sciences Inc. CEO John Martin from people all over the country criticizing the company’s AIDS drug prices and policies. The bags were delivered to the front desk at Gilead’s headquarters in Foster City, CA. The campaign is spearheaded by AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF).
The majority of the letters were regarding the company’s pricing policies and strain that the $10,000 price tag for its key AIDS drug Atripla is putting on state AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAPs). Due to this strain, there are now more than 9,200 Americans on waiting lists to receive lifesaving HIV/AIDS medications. The letters state:
Gilead: Drug Prices To Die For
Dear Mr. John C. Martin,
I am writing to express my concern regarding the high price of Gilead's Atripla and other AIDS drugs manufactured by Gilead. Such high prices are putting an unbearable strain on cash-strapped AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPs), limiting access to lifesaving treatment for those most in need.
As you know, ADAP is the payer of last resort for thousands of people with AIDS who cannot afford their medicines. However, due to the high price of AIDS drugs such as Atripla--which costs over $10,000 per year for ADAP--this program can no longer serve all the people who rely on it. Today, more than 8,600 Americans are on ADAP waiting lists to receive lifesaving medicines. These individuals now face a potentially fatal interruption in their treatment.
In 2010, Gilead generated over $6.5 billion in revenues for AIDS drugs, but has refused to lower prices for ADAPs.
Patient assistance programs are an inadequate substitute for a functional ADAP program. Help is needed now or this crisis will continue to get worse.
Given that Gilead produces these drugs "at cost" for a few hundred dollars per year, you can lower prices significantly and still make a huge profit--and, yet, you have not.
Mr. Martin: please, no more AIDS drug prices to die for. Do the right thing and lower prices for ADAPs. Thousands of lives are depending on it.
Sincerely,
Several hundred of the letters criticized the company’s reckless and premature pursuit of FDA approval for use of Gilead’s blockbuster HIV/AIDS treatment drug Truvada as a pre-exposure prophylaxis (or HIV prevention pill):
Gilead, There is No Magic Pill
Dear Mr. John C. Martin,
I am concerned about possible approval by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) of Gilead Sciences, Inc.'s drug Truvada as a pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to prevent HIV transmission.
The results of a recent study using Truvada as PrEP, involving 2,500 gay men and showing a 44% effectiveness rate in preventing HIV are insufficient to support FDA approval of Truvada as an HIV prevention tool for gay men for numerous reasons.
First and foremost, a rate of 44% preventive effectiveness is much too low to merit FDA approval.
Secondly, at this time, real-world information is lacking.
I am deeply concerned about the possibility of increased risk that could come with the use of Truvada as PrEP. The consequences of patients who take Truvada haphazardly are that they will become infected, develop drug resistance, and spread drug-resistant virus to others.
There is also the very real potential that there will be a decrease in condom usage due to a false sense of protection from taking PrEP.
Finally, there is the question of who will pay for this $35-a-day pill. Currently, there are more than 6,450 low-income Americans who are living with HIV/AIDS who are on waiting lists to receive lifesaving medications from state AIDS programs because funding is shrinking.
I join AIDS Healthcare Foundation in supporting continued research on HIV prevention, but opposing quick fixes that run the risk of contributing to the spread of HIV and drug-resistant viruses. Please halt any further pursuit of FDA approval for Truvada as PrEP until further study is completed.
Sincerely,
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and services to more than 168,000 individuals in 27 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific region and Eastern Europe. www.aidshealth.org
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