Tag: Gilead Sciences

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News Round-Up: July 2, 2021

Teen Wolf star Tyler Posey

Teen Wolf star Tyler Posey
Tyler Posey (via Instagram)
Some news items you might have missed: • NME: Former Teen Wolf star Tyler Posey says he’s still figuring out his sexuality. “I’ve been with everybody under the sun, and right now I’m in the best relationship that I’ve ever been in with a woman, and she’s queer too. She’s helped me realize that I fit under the queer umbrella and that I’m sexually fluid, I guess.” • them: Around 1,000 people made history this week by taking part in the first-ever Pride event at one of America’s most conservative Mormon colleges. On Monday, current and former students of Brigham Young University (BYU) gathered at Provo, Utah’s Joaquin Park before walking a mile to Kiwanis Park, a grassy expanse just east of campus. https://www.instagram.com/p/CQ1IlrXhI19/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link • PBS: New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy announced Wednesday that Andrew Bruck would be appointed acting attorney general for the remainder of Murphy’s term. Bruck will be the first openly gay attorney general in state history. • Instinct Magazine: Gilead Sciences is looking to get its ‘once every six months’ HIV inhibitor injection, Lenacapavir, approved by the FDA. • The Advocate: Sha’Carri Richardson, who made headlines recently for thanking her girlfriend after qualifying for the Olympics, will now miss at least part of the games due to a positive marijuana test.

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Gilead Sciences Announces Pricing For COVID-19 Drug Remdesivir

(image via Depositphotos)
Gilead Sciences Inc. has announced that it will charge U.S. hospitals approximately $3,120 for the majority of patients who need remdesivir, one of the first drugs to show significant upside in treating COVID-19. From Bloomberg News:

Patients suffering from the illness caused by the novel coronavirus are usually given six vials of remdesivir over five days. The price, which comes to $520 a vial, would apply to commercially insured patients in the U.S., according to a letter from Gilead Chief Executive Officer Daniel O’Day posted on the company’s website Monday.

It plans charge $390 a vial, or $2,340 for a five-day regimen, for direct government purchases by the U.S. or other developed countries.

Gilead’s pricing decision is consequential because it sets a precedent for how much future Covid-19 treatments might cost. While it’s higher than some patient groups had pushed for, it was close to a level that some drug-pricing watchdogs have said would be acceptable based on remdesivir’s expected benefit.

Gilead has promised to donate 940,000 doses of the medication through the month of June.  So far, nearly a quarter of a million treatment courses of remdesivir have been made available for free.

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News Round-Up: November 7, 2019

Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: From the looks of woofy Jeff Ferreira’s photo (above) today, the high of 57 degrees in NYC must have felt preeeety warm 🙂 • Iowa Caucuses: The latest polling from Quinnipiac University shows Mayor Pete Buttigieg moving into the number two spot. Senator Elizabeth Warren receives 20% support among Iowa likely Democratic caucus-goers, with South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg getting 19%, Sen. Bernie Sanders at 17%, and former Vice President Joe Biden at 15%. • NY Times: The Trump administration has filed a lawsuit against Gilead Sciences, which sells Truvada used as HIV-prevention medication for PrEP, accusing the company of earning billions from research funded by taxpayers without paying taxpayers back. • Advocate: Scientists say they have discovered a new strain of HIV for the first time in nearly two decades. • Watch What Happens Live: Queer Eye guy Karamo Brown initially told the press he and former White House press secretary Sean Spicer had become “friends” during his time on Dancing with the Stars. But on WWHL this week, Brown backpedaled on that saying there “was no friendship.” • Washington Blade: Two judges have now struck down a controversial Trump administration rule allowing health care providers to opt-out of procedures to which they have religious or moral objections, a policy that threatened care for LGBTQ people and others. • Christmas Music: Political satirist Randy Rainbow releases a 7-track EP titled, HEY GURL, IT’S CHRISTMAS! tomorrow featuring guests Kathy Griffin, Alan Cumming, Norm Lewis, and Lorna Luft.

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Second Drug Approved By FDA For Use As PrEP

The Food and Drug Administration gave final approval on Thursday for a second drug from Gilead Sciences to be used for PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis). Since 2012, Gilead’s Truvada has been the only drug approved for use as PrEP. Gilead’s Descovy, approved in 2016 to treat those already infected with HIV, is now available for men and transgender women who have sex with men to prevent new HIV infections. The approval did not extend to use by those identified as female at birth because of a lack of research in that population. Descovy, a combination drug taken once daily, contains a newer formulation of Truvada that is less toxic to the kidneys and bones according to clinical trials. It’s also been shown to be more effective in preventing HIV transmission. Gilead hopes to move current patients from Truvada to Descovy over the next year as the patent for Truvada expires in 2020. Reuters reports sales of Truvada in the U.S. reached $2.6 billion in 2018 but is expected to drop to $428 million by 2024, while Descovy’s sales (which totaled $1.2 billion last year) are expected to more than double by 2024 to nearly $3 billion. According to Gilead, 213,000 people were prescribed Truvada for use as PrEP in the second quarter of 2019. In May, Gilead announced it would donate it’s most up-to-date PrEP medication (now Descovy) to 200,000 uninsured people for the next 11 years as part of the Trump administration’s proposed plan to end the HIV epidemic by 2030. (source: Reuters)