Hey #GileadSciences! Release the Hep C cure! To our Tumblr community: Join AHF in urging the White House to tell Gilead to stop the greed and start making the cure for Hepatitis C available to patients. Sign the petition and please REBLOG this post! http://www.aidshealth.org/archives/15802
This is the CEO of pharmaceutical giant, Gilead Sciences. He makes $54 million a year - paid for by taxpayer-funded health programs. Meanwhile thousands of people cannot afford or access their lifesaving HIV/AIDS medications.
The system is broken.
An “HIV prevention pill” is no substitute for using condoms.
Is an “HIV Prevention Pill” Worth It?
Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is an experimental method of HIV prevention. It involves a doctor prescribing antiretroviral HIV/AIDS drugs to a healthy person in order to prevent that person from possibly getting infected with HIV. So far, clinical trials have failed to prove PrEP’s effectiveness… (Click below to read more.)
This news report details concerns over an HIV prevention pill.
Tell drug maker Gilead and the FDA: There is No Magic HIV Prevention Pill!
Send your eletters TODAY. Go to:www.nomagicpills.org.
Your efforts are making a difference. Please re-blog.
FDA: Safety Before Profits!
Pharmaceutical giant - Gilead’s application to expand use of its AIDS drug Truvada for use as HIV prevention pill in uninfected individuals alarms AIDS advocates who note FDA approval is unwarranted based on unsuccessful clinical trials. Join the advocates & send a message to the FDA!
AIDS advocates disrupt U.S. Conference on AIDS to say:
“Gilead is the 1%”
By Christina McEwen
Chicago, IL – This morning, dozens of AIDS advocates peacefully disrupted the U.S. Conference on AIDS (USCA) with a protest aimed at drug company Gilead Science Inc. Carrying signs that said “Occupy Gilead” while chanting: “Gilead is the 1%,” the group surrounded one of Gilead’s conference booths, circling it with red ribbon.
Some of the protestors, led by AIDS Healthcare Foundation, also wore masks of Gilead CEO Johns Martin’s face while shouting “John Martin, you think twice: Atripla, ower the price.”
More than 6,500 Americans are on waiting lists to received lifesaving AIDS medicines because state programs cannot afford the high price of AIDS drugs. Gilead’s oft-prescribed drug Atripla is at the top of the unaffordable list, priced at $10,000 per patient per year.
While thousands of Americans wait to see if they will get the lifesaving medicines they need, Gilead CEO John Martin makes $42 million, making him the 7th highest paid executive in the nation.
By Christina McEwen
AIDS advocates staged a “Day of the Dead” protest yesterday in Foster City, California in front of the headquarters of drug company Gilead Sciences Inc. The “Day of the Dead” mock funeral theme was designed to honor Americans who have died while on AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) waiting lists. More than 6,500 Americans are now on waiting lists to receive lifesaving AIDS drugs through these state programs. The waiting lists have been created largely because programs cannot afford to care for as many low-income Americans since the price of AIDS drugs has skyrocketed. The price of Gilead’s key AIDS drug Atripla is more than $10,000 per patient per year, for example.
The group was asking Gilead to lower AIDS drug prices for state programs NOW!
Facts on Gilead’s Greed:
· $6.5 billion in yearly revenues from AIDS drugs
· 36% profit margin – the highest in the industry
· $42 million in annual pay for CEO John Martin
· $10,600 annual price of Atripla for taxpayer-funded AIDS Drug Assistance Programs
· 8,785 people on waiting lists to receive lifesaving treatment
Given that Gilead produces these drugs “at cost” for a few hundred dollars per year, it can lower prices significantly and still make a huge profit, yet it has not.
Today AIDS advocates are asking Gilead Sciences to do their part to end this AIDS drug crisis.
Call Gilead at (650) 574-3000 and ask to speak with CEO John C. Martin.
Gilead must immediately lower prices for ADAP. Thousands of lives are at risk.
Eileen Garcia
Community Outreach Manager
A small passionate group of 10 AIDS activists held a “Die-In” Protest at Gilead Sciences headquarters this morning as company employees drove into work.
Wearing skeleton masks and dressed in black, we demanded that “John Martin think twice! ATRIPLA needs a lower price!” and informed on-lookers that “Drugs that cost means lives are lost!”.
We also carried a coffin representing lives already lost waiting for life-saving HIV medications.
The head of security, once again, came over to welcome us and photograph the protest.
The Lancet & AHF Agree
“As a healthcare provider, AHF shares The Lancet’s concerns over the use of Gilead’s Truvada as PrEP and its potential negative affects on the medical community’s ability to fight AIDS and on the public health. Going forward with FDA approval of PrEP without more information would be a mistake. AHF’s first priority is ‘to do no harm.’ The issues that The Lancet addresses—such as the potential for increases in high-risk sexual behavior and increased viral resistance—are potentially very harmful to individuals and the health of the public at large. It would be unwise to ignore the need for caution expressed in this article.”
