➤ TORRES AND LOEB, from p.12 ➤ GILEAD, from p.12
nor he once rightfully condemned
for repeated racist remarks. Give
the money back Ritchie!!!”
Torres, who has easily outraised
his opponents thus far in
the crowded race to replace José
Serrano, was most recently forced
to address concerns about his donations
when voters confronted
him at a Stonewall Democratic
Club endorsement meeting on
October 23. He was twice asked
about taking money from real estate
developers, and he defended
himself by arguing that such donations
would not interfere with
his donations because members of
Congress do not control land use
in the city.
During that same meeting, Torres
ripped one of his opponents
in the race, former City Council
Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, for
presiding “over four years worth of
rezoning that arguably led to more
gentrifi cation, not less.” He further
brushed off Mark-Viverito’s pledge
to avoid taking money from developers
by pointing out that she did
not take a “no real estate” pledge
while she was speaker.
““But if you were speaker for
four years and you approved four
years of rezoning that ultimately
led to more gentrifi cation, it is
disingenuous to suddenly claim
you’re a democratic socialist,” he
said at the time. “I’m just tired of
the bullshit.”
Torres raised $335,089 in the
most recent fi ling period between
July 1 and September 30 after
hauling in $522,000 in his fi rst
fi ling. Assemblymember Michael
Blake raised $239,260 in the second
quarter, while Mark-Viverito
pulled in $151,613 and Councilmember
Ydanis Rodriguez reported
a $53,160 haul.
Subsequent to the original
posting of this article, Torres responded
to Gay City News’ request
for comment, writing, “These are
politically motivated attacks from
a failed public advocate candidate,
Melissa Mark-Viverito, who, in the
CD 15 race, is the only candidate
being presently sued for discriminating
against African Americans
as reported in The City . These attacks
are driven by nothing more
than politics and money.”
it “continues to do so.”
HHS Secretary Alex M. Azar II,
who has deep ties to the pharmaceutical
industry, said in a written
statement on November 6 that
Gilead “must respect the US patent
system, the groundbreaking
work by CDC researchers, and
the substantial taxpayer contributions
to the development of
these drugs. The complaint fi led
today seeks to ensure that they
do.” Azar spent about fi ve years as
the president of the US division of
Eli Lilly and Company and served
on the board of Biotechnology Innovation
Organization.
The lawsuit drew quick reaction
from the PrEP4All Collaboration, a
coalition dedicated to channeling
political activism into the effort
to boost the accessibility of HIV
prevention medication. The group
published a document earlier this
year thoroughly outlining the millions
in taxpayer dollars that have
been used for the research.
“While yesterday’s action is important,
the lawsuit alone will do
little to increase access to PrEP,”
James Krellenstein, an HIV/ AIDS
activist and co-founder of PrEP4All,
said on November 7. “The
government must now use these
patents to get PrEP to everyone
who needs it and create a universal
HIV prevention program that
alleviates all of the barriers perpetuating
the HIV epidemic. This
step wouldn’t cost taxpayers a
dime.”
The lawsuit represents the latest
wave of developments during
a year of increased scrutiny of
pharmaceutical giants for hindering
the effort to eradicate
HIV/ AIDS. Following pressure
from activists, Gilead announced
in May that it would release its
patent on PrEP next year to allow
for generic medication, and
in a separate development activists
and union health plans sued
four pharma giants — Gilead,
Bristol-Myers Squibb, Johnson
& Johnson, and Japan Tobacco
— for allegedly joining forces to
avoid selling combination medications
that exclusively consist of
generic drugs, a strategy aimed
at maintaining up higher prices
and profi ts.
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