AIDS Activists Stage "Die-In," Target Foster City Biotech

A small crowd of about 25 wearing all black and skeleton masks gathered in front of a Foster City biotech company on Wednesday, and they were no two-day-late trick-or-treaters.

The group marched in front of Gilead Sciences headquarters on Lakeside Drive staging a "die-in," protesting the company’s AIDS drug costs that it described as prohibitive, and which according to the protesters, have priced thousands of uninsured or underinsured Americans onto death row.

The protest, organized by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), started in Oakland at 7:30 a.m., and featured a mock funeral, with two escorts leading a four-car procession to Foster City. The AIDS activists carried a coffin they said honored those who’ve already died while left to languish on AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPs) waiting lists.

There are 6,689 people on such waiting lists in twelve states, and an additional 736 who’ve either been dropped or are ineligible because of lowered eligibility requirements, AHP officials say.

“What we’re trying to do is call attention to the drug assistance waiting lists,” AHF spokeswoman Christina McEwen said. “There are more than 6,000 people on these waiting lists, and basically it’s because the state programs don’t have enough money.”

The protesters say Gilead’s Atripla medication, which needs to be taken throughout the patient’s life, costs $10,000 a year.

“We targeted Gilead because their drugs are so overpriced,” McEwen said. “We’re asking that (Gilead) do their fair share and lower their drug prices.”

Gilead officials insist that they’ve already stepped up.

Spokesman Nathan Kaiser said that Gilead last year lowered its price for ADAPs beyond federally mandated rebates, and extended an ADAPs price freeze established in 2008 through 2013.

Gilead has also raised its income eligibility criteria for its own assistance program that provides HIV medication at no cost for patients whose income is up to five times the federal poverty guidelines, and provides up to $2,400 a year of assistance to insured patients meeting eligibility requirements.

“As the leading provider of HIV therapy, Gilead takes its responsibility to patients seriously,” Kaiser said in an email to Patch.

“We are committed to developing medications that address the needs of the medical community, and we are equally committed to ensuring patients can access the therapies we develop.  Recognizing the financial difficulties many individuals face in today's challenging economy, Gilead has established one of the most comprehensive packages of patient assistance solutions for people living with HIV.”

But that’s not enough, according to AIDS activists, who assert the company has put profits ahead of its corporate responsibility.

Protesters at Wednesday’s rally carried banners saying “Gilead, do the right thing!”

“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,” AHF official and protest organizer Eileen Garcia said in a prepared statement.

“Atripla is one of Gilead’s top selling AIDS drugs, and as such accounts for over 20 percent 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 for this as well as other AIDS drugs without 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.”