The Guardian: Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez say company seeking HIV patent extension ‘deceitful and immoral’
“Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are calling on the Trump administration to block a drug company in its efforts to extend its patent on a crucial anti-HIV drug. In a letter to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office shared exclusively with the Guardian, the Vermont senator and the New York representative accuse the pharmaceutical company, Gilead, of ‘deceitful and immoral’ behavior in holding back the drug, Descovy, from the market until its patent term for an earlier, allegedly less safe anti-HIV drug had been exhausted. … The involvement of Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez casts a powerful spotlight on efforts by a grassroots activist group, PrEP4All Collaboration, to block a patent extension for Descovy. The group filed a petition with the patent office last week, laying out the allegations against Gilead. Gilead did not immediately reply to a request for comment…” (McCarthy, 12/9).