Tag Archives: Truvada

Federal Judge Blocks PrEP Coverage Under Affordable Care Act- "Obamacare"

Facebook Refuses To Remove Ads Promoting Misinformation About HIV Prevention Drugs

Facebook feeds have been inundated with misleading ads containing false information about HIV prevention and LGBT advocates, are saying that the tone-deaf tech giant’s refusal to remove the content is creating a public-health crisis.

The paid ads have been viewed millions of times in recent months, They’ve scared patients, potentially those who may be most at risk of contracting HIV, out of taking preventative drugs, known as PrEP, even though health officials and federal regulators have said they are safe.

The ads many of which have been purchased by personal-injury lawyers allege in lawsuits that HIV medications, such as Truvada, actually threaten patients with serious side effects. LGBT groups that work with Facebook say the ads are “false” and have urged Facebook for months to take them down— and Facebook refuses stating that the ads do not violate its policies.

“We value our work with LGBT groups and constantly seek their input,” said Facebook spokeswoman Devon Kearns said in a statement. “While these ads do not violate our ad policies nor have they been rated false by third-party fact-checkers, we’re always examining ways to improve and help these key groups better understand how we apply our policies.”

Demetre Daskalakis, the deputy commissioner for the Division of Disease Control at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene said the ads, which he has seen on his own Facebook feed, threaten to undo years of work to promote a drug that can cut down on the transmission of HIV and potentially save lives.

“I still see patients,” Daskalakis said. “Four of my seven PrEP patients came in and said, ‘How could you be putting me on this medication that’s so unsafe? My Instagram ads say so.’”

Despite the fact that health officials and federal regulators have said that the HIV prevention drugs are safe personal-injury lawyers claiming to represent thousands of HIV patients say the data actually are on their side — and that they have a role in informing patients about the risks in medication.

“These Facebook ads provide a service to let them know there are options available for them now,” said Robert Jenner, the co-lead counsel in the consolidated lawsuit.

Michael Weinstein and AIDS Healthcare Foundation Runs Anti-PrEP Ad, Dismisses CDC, and All Other AIDS Orgs.

AHF

 

Michael Weinstein, the outspoken president of the Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation and his organization is still standing alone and  stubbornly campaigning against PrEP and Truvada the daily medication that has been shown to greatly reduce the risk of contracting H.I.V.  The mystery is why l Weinsteinand the AHF is so against a clinically proven prevention drug and why they continue to battle against alone.

,Josh Barro of The New York Times reports:

“There’s no large controversy; there is one loud voice,” said Charles King, the president of the H.I.V. nonprofit Housing Works and a co-chairman of an anti-H.I.V. task force appointed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York. Mr. King called the A.H.F. ad “a direct attack on New York State’s efforts to end AIDS as an epidemic.” The growing pro-PrEP chorus includes government bodies like the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; various state and local health departments, including in New York and San Francisco; and most H.I.V.-related nonprofits that have taken a stance. Mr. Cuomo has made PrEP one of three planks in his anti-AIDS plan.

Mr. Weinstein’s vociferous opposition to PrEP has made him perhaps the most hated man in the AIDS business. “I consider him a menace to H.I.V. prevention,” said Peter Staley, a veteran activist who also serves on the Cuomo task force. James Loduca, the vice president for public affairs at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, compared him to a “climate-change denialist.” For his part, Mr. Weinstein insists he’s not really alone. He says “a majority” of H.I.V. experts he speaks with privately agree with his view that PrEP is an ineffective public health intervention, but they do not want to talk publicly.

or his part, Mr. Weinstein insists he’s not really alone. He says “a majority” of H.I.V. experts he speaks with privately agree with his view that PrEP is an ineffective public health intervention, but they do not want to talk publicly.

“I think that people are intimidated,” he said in an interview. “When they see how mercilessly anyone who speaks out on this is attacked, I think it has a chilling effect.” He attributes the chill to AIDS activists in thrall to Gilead, Truvada’s manufacturer, which provides support for AIDS nonprofits.

Herein lies the problem.  Weinstein is on the  record stating that Truvada works and there are some whispers in the community  that  Weinstein and AHF’s attack on Truveda is nothing more than retaliation against Gilead from pulling funding from the organization. Or is it nothing more than  Weinstein’s vested interest in protecting his position in the HIV-prevention community.  In either case is that  really worth people’s lives? Because that is going to be the cost if the ludicrous and self-glorifying campaign he is running, almost entirely on his own is successful.

 

 

San Francisco Considers Plans To Give Free/Low Cost Truvada To Gay Men To Prevent AIDS

Truveda

 

Truvada, is a one-a-day pill has been found to be roughly as effective as condoms  in reducing the risk of contracting HIV. But the high cost of the drug  $8,000 to $14,000 a year is out of many people’s price range, even with insurance.

Tomorrow Supervisor David Campos announced plans to introduce a measure to allocate funds for navigators to educate patients about PrEP, and provide subsidies to San Franciscans who cannot afford the life saving medication,

By making PrEP available to all regardless of income, we could set the tone for the rest of the country in how to effectively eradicate a disease that claimed the lives of so many of our loved ones.”

Michael Weinstein, president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, has set off a firestorm in th HIV and gay community claiming that the drug is a “public health disaster in the making.” despite the fact that Truvada is heartily supported by the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization.

Peter Staley, a hero of HIV/AIDS activism and a central figure in How to Survive a Plague summed up Weinstein in a recent interview with Marc Joseph Stern of Slate.com:

“If there’s one thing that every AIDS activist knows it’s that Michael Weinstein is not an AIDS activist. Yes, he’s the CEO of the ‘largest AIDS organization in the country’—based on revenue—but from the get-go, his tactic for building this empire has been taking contrarian positions that assure his placement in almost any article that appears about the latest HIV/AIDS debate.”

Since the beginning of the epidemic until 2010 a total of 28,793 San Francisco residents have been diagnosed with AIDS and  19,341  reported AIDS deaths in the city alone.