AHF takes campaign to Merck & Co's home town with AIDS banners protesting high cost of Isentress

As part of its ongoing campaign to lower AIDS drug prices and increase access, the USA-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) has unveiled its latest element in a multifaceted advocacy campaign challenging Merck & Co over the steep price it charges for its key HIV/AIDS drug, Isentress (raltegravir), which it argues is the most expensive first-line AIDS therapy in the USA today. Last month, the AHF banned Merck's representatives from its clinics as part of the campaign (The Pharma Letter January 27).

For its part, Merck has consistently defended its pricing policy for Isentress (TPL January 25), a drug that generated total sales of $752 million for the company in 2009, up 108% on the prior year.

In a novel approach which the AHF says is aimed at educating commuting Merck employees and the general public about the high price the company charges for the drug, this morning - just a day after the drug giant posted strong 2009 results (see separate story) - the AHF placed train station banner advertisements hanging from light poles on the platform of the train station in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, Merck's hometown, reading: 'Merck: Do the Right Thing.' The banners, which began hanging at the station this week, are approximately two feet by three feet in size, also direct viewers to AHF's website, where visitors can find information about Merck's AIDS drug pricing and policies regarding Isentress.