Both Descovy and Truvada, one of Gilead’s previous HIV prevention drugs, cost around $1,800 per month.
AIDS Healthcare Foundation argued that since Gilead has already made billions in profit from Truvada and its other HIV/AIDS drugs, it should lower the price of Descovy to make it more accessible to populations that need it.
AHF also noted that Truvada contains a substance that can cause permanent kidney and bone damage. Descovy doesn’t contain that substance and was shown to have fewer toxic side effects. AHF claimed Gilead purposefully withheld the less toxic drug to make a larger profit.
“Gilead must atone for its deliberate suppression of TAF from patients over the past decade or more simply in order to maximize its profits and extend sales of its more harmful TDF-based medications. As a result, people have been grievously harmed—many, suffering permanent kidney and bone damage—by Gilead’s greed and pursuit of the almighty dollar,” said Michael Weinstein, president of AHF.
Read the full news release here.
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