AOC Puts Pharma CEO On Blast for High Cost of HIV Drug Truvada

C-SPAN has a reputation for being bored, but when New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is testifying, she makes her own personal highlight, and taking a Big Pharma to task for the price of an HIV drug yesterday is definitely a place on there.

First, the stage: Truvada is a PrEP drug that can prevent patients from contracting HIV if tasks proactively. Right now, it's pretty much the only pre-exposure prophylaxis drug available, making it a groundbreaking tool in the fight against HIV and AIDS. In the U.S., where it's shielded by patents, it costs nearly $ 2,000. But, as Ocasio-Cortez pointed out, it only costs $ 8 in Australia, where there is a generic version available and the country has universal healthcare.

So please enjoy this clip of AOC directing righteous directly at the CEO of Gilead, Truvada

As Daniel O'Day, the Gilead CEO noted, Truvada still has a patent in the US His justification was that “We are sure that Americans get our medicines at a price that allows us to invest in research,” but the reason was in front of the House Oversight Committee because the CDC funded an enormous amount of the research. that created Truvada and also owns a patent for the drug. But Gilead insists that its patent is only valid one, and has reaped massive rewards to the tune of $ 3 billion in global revenue last year.

The government's failing to adequately shield consumers from companies like Gilead is a continuing tragedy, but at least with democrats in control of the house, every once in a while we'll get to see a CEO sweat.