SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--On Sunday, October 30, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), will run a full-page, full-color advocacy ad targeting the pricing and policies of Bay Area drug maker, Gilead Sciences, Inc. The ad, which will run in the San Francisco Chronicle, is simply headlined “Greed,” however, the word ‘greed’ is scratched out with three red letters superimposed over Gilead’s logo to create the word.
AHF’s ad consists of a long and growing list of Gilead’s greed-driven actions over the years on its HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C medications that have increased the company’s bottom line by tens of billions of dollars largely at the expense of patients and community providers who care for and serve them. Points noted in the ad:
“Gilead is infamous for charging $1,000 for a single pill of the Hep C drug Sovaldi
Gilead is being sued by thousands of HIV patients for knowingly selling an inferior drug until its patent ran out.
Gilead replaces the inferior drug with Biktarvy and has now slashed their patient assistance program.
Gilead’s price for the HIV prevention drug Descovy has doubled over the past two years.
Gilead’s greed has no limits making them the poster child for drug company profiteering.”
The Sunday Chronicle ad comes on the heels of a successful grassroots advocacy campaign ending today (10/28). The campaign and protests, which received media coverage from KPIX, KGO and the 340B Report, included a weeklong series of twice-daily daily protests held by advocates at Gilead’s Foster City, CA headquarters, where groups sharply criticized the company’s drug pricing and policies.
55 advocates and mobilizers affiliated with AHF started protesting each day at 8:30 a.m. in front of Gilead’s headquarters (333 Lakeside Dr., Foster City, CA 94404). The advocates regrouped and resumed each day at 12:00 noon PT. A larger theatrical protest with costumes (a $1 million dollar bill, pigs’ heads and snouts, advocates dressed as burglars with money bags slung over their shoulders) took place on Wednesday.
The 340B drug pricing program is administered by the U.S. Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA). It has helped provide low-cost medications and better health outcomes for millions of Americans and the nonprofit clinics and hospitals that serve them. Safety net providers like Ryan White providers who serve patients living with HIV have the right under the 340B statute to purchase drugs for their patients at a discounted price. In March, Gilead put profits before patients by unilaterally imposing unlawful conditions on when and how it will give discounts for certain Hepatitis C drugs.
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and/or services to over 1.7 million individuals in 45 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region and Eastern Europe. To learn more about AHF, please visit our website: www.aidshealth.org, find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/aidshealth and follow us on Twitter: @aidshealthcare and Instagram: @aidshealthcare