AHF: ‘Gilead: We Told You So on COVID Drug Pricing!’

AIDS group lauds 34 state attorneys general for demanding Gilead lower pricing on key COVID drug

In May, AIDS Healthcare Foundation demanded that the drug company price remdesivir, the newly approved drug for treating COVID-19—which Gilead had developed years earlier with $70M in government funding as a possible Ebola treatment—at one dollar per day per patient

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) today praised the 34 state attorneys general for taking action to bring down the cost and increase the supply of Gilead Sciences’ remdesivir, the only approved treatment for COVID-19, the novel coronavirus.

“The August 4 letter from the attorneys general basically echoes and implements what AHF has been saying since as far back as March 30, that since taxpayers paid for the research and development—and are now paying for the production of this essential medicine—the price should be reasonable,” said Tom Myers, general counsel and chief of public affairs for AHF.

In May, Gilead, which developed the drug years earlier (with as much as $70 million in government research and development funding) as a possible Ebola treatment, announced that it would set the price for remdesivir between $2,300 and $3,100 per patient for a five-day course of treatment. AHF issued a statement demanding that Gilead price the drug at no more than one dollar per day.

AHF’s dollar per dose demand is based on a University of Liverpool research study, “Minimum costs to manufacture new treatments for COVID-19,” that allows for recovery of the cost of manufacturing plus a reasonable profit.

“We applaud these state elected officials for standing up to Gilead’s greed and thank them for taking this action,” added John Hassell, national advocacy director for AHF.

About AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF)

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and/or services to over 1.4 million people in 45 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region and Eastern Europe. To learn more about AHF, please visit our website: www.aidshealth.org, find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/aidshealth and follow us on Twitter: @aidshealthcare and Instagram: @aidshealthcare.