Drug Discovery and Development

  • Home Drug Discovery and Development
  • Drug Discovery
  • Women in Pharma and Biotech
  • Oncology
  • Neurological Disease
  • Infectious Disease
  • Resources
    • Video features
    • Podcast
    • Voices
    • Views
    • Webinars
  • Pharma 50
    • 2025 Pharma 50
    • 2024 Pharma 50
    • 2023 Pharma 50
    • 2022 Pharma 50
    • 2021 Pharma 50
  • Advertise
  • SUBSCRIBE

AHF Launches Ad Campaign: “Gilead Scandal: Gay Men, We Don’t Care About Your Kidneys and Bones”

By Business Wire | June 8, 2016

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, has launched a new advertising campaign to draw attention to Gilead Sciences, Inc. following a recent and blistering LA Times article that exposed the pharmaceutical giant’s patent manipulation of its best-selling HIV drug.

The ad headline reads “Gilead Scandal: Gay Men, we don’t care about your kidneys and bones, only the money.” The ad started running in LGBT publications last week and will run throughout June: in Metro Weekly – 6/2, Washington Blade – 6/3, Gay City News – 6/9, Bay Area Reporter – 6/9 & 6/23, Outword – 6/9 & 6/23, Dallas Voice – 6/10, Georgia Voice – 6/10, Florida Agenda – 6/23.

The LA Times article cited in AHF’s ad details Gilead researchers’ early and promising clinical trials of TAF, a safer and more effective version of their existing HIV medication tenofovir. However, trials of the newer tenofovir compound were abruptly stopped by Gilead executives in 2004, a few years after they began, in order that Gilead could direct its R&D efforts toward “…other research.”

“Our ad targets LGBT news outlets and the gay community in particular because to this day, the only form of tenofovir available in Truvada, which Gilead is aggressively promoting for use as pre-exposure prophylaxis or PrEP in HIV-negative individuals, is the older form of the compound (TDF)—the form associated with bone loss and kidney damage,” said Whitney Engeran-Cordova, Senior Director of Public Health for AHF. “Gilead does not currently make or market TAF as a standalone medication, it has not been tested or approved by the FDA as a standalone, so unfortunately—and deliberately—the only form of tenofovir patients on PrEP can get is TDF, the older, more toxic form found in Truvada.”

In a lawsuit filed earlier this year, AHF alleges that Gilead halted its early research of TAF in order to extend its patent on its existing HIV medication, which yielded billions of dollars in annual sales. While Gilead argues that the move was only to shift attention toward another type of HIV medicine, their lawyers also maintain that the company “had no duty to develop, test, seek approval of, or launch its new product on any particular timetable.” Meanwhile, HIV patients only had access to the more-harmful version of Gilead’s drug, which had damaging effects on their kidneys and bones.

In response to Gilead’s patent manipulation for higher profits, AHF is also asking Congress and the FDA to conduct a formal investigation of Gilead as well as increased scrutiny of the actions of pharmaceutical companies.

Read the LA Times Story here.

Read AHF’s lawsuit here.

Follow us on Twitter and Facebook for updates on the latest pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical manufacturing news!


Filed Under: Drug Discovery

 

Related Articles Read More >

Korean team reports all-in-one cancer nanomedicine in pre-clinical studies
Nektar’s Phase 2b atopic dermatitis win triggers 1,746% analyst target surge, but legal tussle with ex-partner Lilly could complicate path forward
Dupixent approved to treat bullous pemphigoid
EVEREST lead investigator on why Dupixent sets a new bar for treating coexisting CRSwNP and asthma
“ddd
EXPAND YOUR KNOWLEDGE AND STAY CONNECTED
Get the latest news and trends happening now in the drug discovery and development industry.

MEDTECH 100 INDEX

Medtech 100 logo
Market Summary > Current Price
The MedTech 100 is a financial index calculated using the BIG100 companies covered in Medical Design and Outsourcing.
Drug Discovery and Development
  • MassDevice
  • DeviceTalks
  • Medtech100 Index
  • Medical Design Sourcing
  • Medical Design & Outsourcing
  • Medical Tubing + Extrusion
  • Subscribe to our E-Newsletter
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • R&D World
  • Drug Delivery Business News
  • Pharmaceutical Processing World

Copyright © 2025 WTWH Media LLC. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media
Privacy Policy | Advertising | About Us

Search Drug Discovery & Development

  • Home Drug Discovery and Development
  • Drug Discovery
  • Women in Pharma and Biotech
  • Oncology
  • Neurological Disease
  • Infectious Disease
  • Resources
    • Video features
    • Podcast
    • Voices
    • Views
    • Webinars
  • Pharma 50
    • 2025 Pharma 50
    • 2024 Pharma 50
    • 2023 Pharma 50
    • 2022 Pharma 50
    • 2021 Pharma 50
  • Advertise
  • SUBSCRIBE