Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Bay Area Reporter - May 18, 2006
Liz Highleyman, liz@black-rose.com
About a dozen activists took part in the vigil near the San Francisco Airport Hyatt Regency hotel, sponsored by a coalition of groups including ACT UP/East Bay, Survive AIDS, the American Medical Student Association, the Global AIDS Alliance, Global Exchange, Priority Africa Network, and the Student Global AIDS Campaign.
A similar action was held at the company's satellite offices in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina.
The protesters claimed Foster City-based Gilead was acting with "appalling slowness" in making its AIDS drugs more available in poor countries.
The company produces tenofovir (Viread) and emtricitabine (Emtriva), also available in the popular combination pill Truvada. In conjunction with Bristol-Myers Squibb, Gilead recently filed for FDA approval of a three-drug combination pill that would be the first-ever one-pill, once-daily HIV regimen.
Although Gilead has designated nearly 100 resource-poor countries as eligible for discounted pricing through its access program, activists allege that the company does not actually sell its drugs in most of them. They also demanded that Gilead develop pediatric formulations and offer voluntary licensing to allow developing countries to produce generic versions of its AIDS medications.
According to ACT UP/East Bay member John Iversen, writing in a letter to Gilead staffers, advocates are "peeved" about the "snail's pace" at which the company is addressing these issues.
The same day, about 150 activists protested in New Delhi to oppose Gilead's request for an Indian patent on tenofovir, saying that this would restrict access to the drug by prohibiting local companies from manufacturing generic versions. The Indian Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS and the Delhi Network of Positive People filed a petition with the patent office opposing the request, with the support of Doctors Without Borders.
Generic tenofovir is currently sold in India for about $700 per year, compared to about $5,500 in the United States. However, Indian law was changed last year to stop the practice of generic manufacturers producing inexpensive versions of patented drugs, in order to bring the country into compliance with World Trade Organization intellectual property agreements.
Gilead responds
Even as the U.S. protest plans were being finalized, Gilead was taking action to expand tenofovir's availability.
On May 9, the Health Ministry of Brazil announced that it had reached a deal with the company to reduce the price of tenofovir by half, which would save the country an estimated $15 million per year. Health Minister Agenor Alvares said his office was also negotiating with other drug manufacturers to lower the price of their antiretrovirals. Brazil, which provides free HIV/AIDS treatment to all residents who need it, produces generic versions of eight HIV/AIDS drugs.
On May 11, Gilead announced that it was negotiating an agreement to grant non-exclusive voluntary licenses to allow a number of generic manufacturers in India to produce tenofovir for the local market or for export to poor countries.
"We believe that multiple manufacturers will ensure competitive prices and the broadest access possible in these least developed countries," Gilead said in its announcement.
Gilead did not withdraw its Indian patent application, but stated, "We will use this patent responsibly, and will not block access to our medication in India or in other resource-limited countries where the HIV epidemic has hit the hardest."
The company also said it was committed to expanding availability of its drugs in all 97 developing countries eligible for the Gilead access program.
The Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which operates clinics in Central America, Africa, and Asia, applauded the move.
"Indian generic manufacturers play a critical role in getting cheap drugs to the world's poorest countries," said AHF president Michael Weinstein. "AHF supports this most recent announcement and calls on Gilead to take similar action with its other important AIDS drugs and calls on other pharmaceutical companies to follow in Gilead's footsteps and change their policies in order to remove barriers to access."
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