Pennsylvania Rep. Brian Sims said he hopes the stigma surrounding a drug that can prevent HIV will one day end, after announcing he has been taking it himself.
“I don’t feel like I revealed anything,” he told Newsweek. “I went on PrEP and started talking about it. “There are still know doctors who don’t know what PrEP is and I want everyone to talk about it, it’s literally lifesaving,” he said. Drug manufacturer Gilead, which makes Truvada, currently sells a month's supply of the drug for anywhere between $1,400 and $2,000 a month. Despite making an estimated $3 billion off Truvada in 2018, the company has not paid any royalties to the U.S. government after claiming the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention original patent on the drugs that make up Truvada is invalid.
The day after Sims publicly announced he was taking Truvada, the Justice Department said it is reviewing the patent use of Truvada, potentially indicating the government is considering taking action against Gilead .