May 10, 2019

Gilead agrees to donate HIV medication

Caitlin Owens

In this image, blue pills spill out of a Truvada pill bottle and onto a green pharmaceutical counting tray. — A bottle of antiretroviral drug Truvada. Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Gilead has agreed to donate HIV medication for up to 200,000 people each year for up to 11 years.

The big picture: Gilead's Truvada is used to reduce the risk of HIV infection, and is crucial to the Trump administration's goal to wipe out the disease by 2030.

Details: Truvada currently has a list price of more than $20,000 per year. If Gilead's second-generation HIV medication, Descovy, becomes available, the company will switch to donating that drug.

What they're saying: The AIDS Institute's Carl Schmid called the announcement a "very significant development" that "will free up the federal government from having to spend potentially billions of dollars" on the medication for the uninsured.

Others were less positive. "The real cost of Truvada is about $60 a year. If you really wanted to cover everybody, you’d cut the price to everyone," Massachusetts General Hospital's Rochelle Walensky told the NYT. "If I put on my cynical hat, I think this is the way they make sure they grow the market for Descovy."

Go deeper: 2nd HIV patient achieves remission, signaling possible path to a cure

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Gilead agrees to donate HIV medication

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