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.

Gilead battles AIDS group in drug spat

As Gilead Sciences Inc. nears approval this month of its four-in-one drug treatment for fighting HIV, a one-time ally has become an opponent. The AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which operates clinics, pharmacies and testing sites nationally, says the Quad pill from Foster City-based Gilead isn’t an improvement over current HIV drugs. What’s more, it dubs as “reckless” the recent, groundbreaking approval of Gilead’s two-in-one Truvada tablet as a way to prevent the AIDS virus. Pricing of Gilead’s portfolio of HIV-fighting drugs? Gilead should show restraint, AHF says. And while they’re at it, AHF says Gilead CEO John Martin’s compensation, which hit $15.6 million in 2011, is nothing more than "pharma greed." The foundation's issues involve the departure of a Gilead executive from the AHF board earlier this year as well as Gilead's decision to pull funding in June for two AHF programs. Perhaps most importantly, though, the campaign hasn't won AHF many friends in the AIDS patient advocacy community.