Targeting Gilead, AIDS Healthcare Foundation seeks S.F. referendum on HIV drug prices

Gilead CEO John Martin.

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation wants a San Francisco referendum to push city officials to negotiate prescription drug prices. The proposed November 2013 ballot measure from the Los Angeles-based foundation calls for the city to "employ all opportunities that the municipal government possesses to bring down the price of prescription drugs," including negotiating with individual drug makers. The initiative is fueled, however, by Monday's Food and Drug Administrationapproval of a four-in-one, once-a-day HIV treatment from Gilead Sciences Inc., called Stribild, and the FDA's approval last month of Gilead's Truvada as the first drug to prevent the AIDS virus. The proposed ballot measure, which would require the foundation to collect more than 9,700 signatures, is the latest salvo in the AHF's war on Foster City-based Gilead (NASDAQ: GILD), the world's leading HIV drug developer.

See our Aug. 24 story on the battle between Gilead and the AIDS Healthcare Foundation.