Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) confronted a CEO Thursday for pricing a drug designed to reduce the risk of HIV transmission at $8 in Australia but over $1,500 in the U.S.
āYouāre the CEO of Gilead. Is it true that Gilead made $3 billion in profits from Truvada in 2018?ā Ocasio-Cortez asked Gilead CEO Daniel O'Day.
ā$3 billion in revenue,ā he clarified.
The current list price is $2,000 a month in the United States, correct?ā she asked, referring to Truvada.
āItās $1,780 in the United States,ā O'Day responded.
āWhy is it $8 in Australia?ā Ocasio-Cortez countered.
āTruvada still has patent protection in the United States and in the rest of the world it is generic,ā O'Day explained, adding, āIt will be generically available in the United States as of September 2020.ā
āI think itās important here that we notice that we the public, we the people, developed this drug. We paid for this drug, we lead and developed all the patents to create Prep and then that patent has been privatized despite the fact that the patent is owned by the public, who refused to enforce it,ā Ocasio-Cortez said.
āThereās no reason this should be $2,000 a month. People are dying because of it and thereās no enforceable reason for it.ā
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