based.
>Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) grilled the CEO of Gilead over a life saving HIV drug that costs $1,780 per month ($21,360 per year) in the United States, yet just $8 in Australia.
>"You're the CEO of Gilead. Is it true that Gilead made $3 billion in profits from Truvada in 2018?" Ocasio-Cortez asked Gilead CEO Daniel O'Day.
>"$3 billion in revenue," he replied.
>"The current list price is $2,000 a month in the United States, correct?" AOC then asked.
>"It's $1,780 in the United States," responded O'Day.
>"Why is it $8 in Australia?" countered Ocasio-Cortez.
>"Truvada still has patent protection in the United States and in the rest of the world it is generic," explained O'Day, adding "It will be generically available in the United States as of September 2020."
>"I think it's 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," shot back the Congresswoman. "There’s no reason this should be $2,000 a month. People are dying because of it and there’s no enforceable reason for it."
>As the Washington Post reported in March, Gilead's development of Truvada was "almost fully funded by US taxpayers."
>According to the Post, the US government patented the treatment in 2015, but has "opted not to file an infringement suit to enforce" the patent.
>"Gilead seems to be using the CDC’s technology for free without compensating the CDC, without compensating the taxpayer," said Morten in an interview after reviewing the CDC's patents at the request of the PrEP4All Collaboration.