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The Los Angeles-based AIDS
Healthcare Foundation, an organization of HIV/AIDS patient advocates, announced
on November 15 that it intends to put a measure on San Francisco’s 2013 ballot,
encouraging the city to negotiate for the lowest possible cost for the
prescription drugs that it purchases. San Francisco residents need to collect 9,703
valid signatures on a petition for the measure, “Stop Runaway Drug Pricing,” to
be placed on the city’s ballot in November 2013. AIDS Healthcare Foundation
officials stated that signature gathering would begin the weekend of November
17, with organizers having until mid-May 2013 to compile enough signatures.
San Francisco law presently
authorizes the city’s Public Health Department to use outside companies to
negotiate prices for prescription drugs. This new measure would change that
city’s policy by allowing San Francisco to directly negotiate with drug
manufacturers. AIDS Healthcare Foundation spokesman Ged Kenslea declared that
governments are the largest purchaser of pharmaceutical products and have the
ability to say no to companies that are charging for drugs to treat AIDS,
cancer, and other illnesses, but they have not done that. Dr. Lisha Wilson, Bay
Area Clinical Medical Director at the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, cites the
drug Stribild, a four-in-one AIDS treatment combination drug produced by Gilead
Sciences, Inc., as an example of a drug that is extremely high-priced; it costs
$28,500 annually. That is more than most AIDS patients earn in a year,
according to Wilson. Officials at Gilead were not immediately available for
comment. One community activist, who has lived with HIV/AIDS for more than 19
years, worries about being priced out of the market for the medicine he needs,
saying that one day, he may not be able to afford it.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
