AHF Hosts Third “Die-in” Protest Over Gilead’s AIDS Drug Prices

AIDS Advocates to Protest Over Gilead’s Pricing of Atripla for Nation’s Hard-Hit AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP)

Participants Will Wear Skeleton Masks, Dress in All-Black, and Carry a Coffin in Memory of Those Who Have Died While on ADAP Waitlists

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Scores of AIDS advocates will participate in a protest and “die-in” hosted by AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), tomorrow, Wednesday, September 14^th at 8:00 AM outside the Foster City headquarters of Gilead Sciences Inc. to protest the company’s pricing of its HIV/AIDS medications. The protestors will carry banners and handmade signs with the message: “Gilead, do the right thing!” while wearing skeleton masks. Dressed in funeral-black they will also carry a 4 ft. X 2 ½ ft. coffin in memory of those who have died of AIDS while on AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) waitlists.

The protest and “die-in” is the third of its kind and will be held in light of the severe crisis facing the nation’s ADAPs, a network of federal and state funded programs that provide life-saving HIV treatments to low income, uninsured, and underinsured individuals living with HIV/AIDS nationwide. The advocates’ goal is to raise public awareness and educate community members—including Gilead employees—regarding the steep prices that government programs are paying for Gilead’s blockbuster HIV/AIDS drug, Atripla (efavirenz & tenofovir & emtricitabine)—currently $10,000 per patient, per year for ADAP.

WHAT:	“Die-in” & Protest of Gilead’s AIDS Drug Prices
	8:00 AM Pacific Daylight Time
WHEN:	WEDNESDAY, September 14^th, 2011 at 8:00 AM
WHERE:	At the corner of Lakeside and East 3^rd in Foster City
	Near Gilead Sciences Inc. Headquarters (333 Lakeside Drive, Foster City, CA 94404)
CONTACTS:	Eileen Garcia, Community Outreach Manager, [phone] cell
	Christina McEwen, Communications & Mktg Coordinator, [phone] cell [phone] office

The protest will echo two similar “die-in” protests and a “pill-bottle” protest, which took place recently outside the Foster City Gilead Sciences Inc.’s headquarters. In addition, AIDS Healthcare Foundation previously released a 30-second television commercial: “Gilead: AIDS Drug Prices to Die For.” The ad, which ran on MSNBC and CNN in San Francisco, Foster City and surrounding areas, urged the company to lower prices immediately and directed viewers to send an e-letter to Gilead CEO John Martin by visiting www.2gilead.org.

As of September 8, there are 9,066 people on waiting lists in eleven states, according to ADAP Watch, published regularly by the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors (NASTAD). The total number of people on that have either been dropped from the program, been placed on a waiting list or are unable to enroll due to lowered eligibility is at least 9,792. The breakdown is as follows:

• 9,066 on waiting lists (as reported by NASTAD)
• 445 people dropped (also reported by NASTAD)
• 281 people unable to enroll because of lowered eligibility (This figure is likely higher because AHF’s estimate is based on enrollment figures from FY2009, the most recent full-year data available.)

“It is important to make this message clear to Gilead employees, as hard-hit government-funded programs like ADAP bare the brunt of Gilead’s greed,” said Eileen Garcia, Community Outreach Manager for AHF and a leader of the protest. “Atripla is one of Gilead’s top selling AIDS drugs. It accounts for over 20% of ADAP expenditures and brings in millions in revenue for the company. Today, the cost of this single drug is over $10,000 per year, and ADAP simply cannot afford to pay this as well as other AIDS drugs without a price relief. Given that Atripla is sold ‘at cost’ for $600 per year in developing countries, Gilead could lower its price significantly, while continuing to make a large profit, yet it has not done so.”

Background on ADAP

With state budgets stretched thin and increasing numbers of unemployed workers without health insurance, many states have been forced to cap enrollment in their AIDS Drug Assistance Programs. Currently, there are nearly 9,066 individuals on waiting lists to receive lifesaving AIDS medications in thirteen states. Hundreds of patients in need are being added to the waiting list each week. In addition, thousands more Americans living with HIV/AIDS have been dropped from the program or made ineligible to receive medications through ADAP due to stricter eligibility requirements.

Nationwide, ADAPs serve over 165,000 people, accounting for one third of people on AIDS treatment in the U.S. Unfortunately, the need for these programs expands every year, as more and more people become infected and diagnosed with HIV/AIDS; each year thousands of newly diagnosed HIV patients turn to ADAPs because they cannot afford their medicines.

“The nation’s network of AIDS Drug Assistance Programs face desperate circumstances due to the high prices of drugs like Gilead’s Atripla. AHF is willing to work in partnership with Gilead toward solutions for ADAP and to create and foster dialogue with the community, but so long as companies like Gilead continue to pursue pricing and policies that conflict with the greater good and health and well-being of the public, we will not stop asking for change,” said Jessie Gruttadauria, AHF’s Director of Public Affairs/Interim Director, Public Health Division. “Our intention with this protest is to encourage Gilead to reflect on its own remarkable mission and history as a very different sort of drug company.”

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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