The shaming of BMS's CEO Lamberto Andreotti

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) launched a new effort in its campaign to lower the price of Bristol-Myers Squibb’s (BMS) key AIDS drug Reyataz which, at $13,000 per patient per year, costs up to 2½ times more than other AIDS drugs. AHF recently sent postcards to thousands of BMS employees and neighbors in the Princeton area, where the company operates a site consisting of 1.67 million square feet of office space situated on 280 acres. The controversial postcard mailer—set to arrive this week in residents’ home mailboxes—depicts BMS CEO Lamberto Andreotti standing among piles of cash while stuffing a twenty-dollar bill into his pocket. The words “Shame on BMS,” stamped in bold lettering, accompany the image.

The back of the postcard re-names the drug giant “Big Money Scheme” and states: “The high price of Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Reyataz is having a devastating impact on AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPs) and the thousands of people who rely on them.”

This latest action comes on the heels of a protest in New York City last month targeting the New York-based drug company over the price of Reyataz, now one of the most expensive first-line AIDS treatment in the U.S. Protestors picketed outside the Grand Hyatt—New York, where BMS executives were scheduled to present at the Bank of America-Merrill Lynch 2010 Health Care Conference. Carrying signs and banners descrying the drug giant’s actions, the protesters chanted slogans such as “How do you spell greed? BMS” and “What do we want? Lower drug prices! When do we want them? NOW!”

“By pricing Reyataz up to two and a half times more than other AIDS drugs, Bristol Myers Squibb is placing greed above people’s lives,” said Michael Weinstein, AIDS Healthcare Foundation President. “At $13,000 per patient per year, it is the cost of drugs like Reyataz that threatens to bankrupt state programs like ADAP, harming the patients who rely on such programs for the lifesaving medications they need. AHF calls on BMS to immediately lower the price of Reyataz so that people with AIDS can get the treatment they need.”

http://www.aidshealth.org/news/press-releases/aids-activists-shame-on.html