AIDS Health Fdtn Recruiting SF Patient via Postcards

Let's look at the snail-mail postcard campaign that hit many LGBT and straight mailboxes this weekend from the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. The image above is the front of the postcard Mike and I received in Saturday's postal mail delivery.

The back of the postcard features info about services offered along with the days and times the health center is open.

How huge was the revenue figure raked in last year by Michael Weinstein's behemoth AHF? It was $514,000,000 according to their latest IRS 990 filing. They have an incentive to sign up new clients for their various offerings of medical care to keep insurance and other dollars flowing to the organization, is the cynical take.

However, the upside of a new healthcare facility in the Castro is that for the expanded number of area LGBT residents who aren't in care now, they have another option to receive medical services and maintain sexual-health wellness.

I think it's been a full decade since Weinstein and his Los Angeles based nonprofit decided to penetrate the San Francisco AIDS community and lucrative HIV medical delivery market, opening thrift stores with testing on-site, then direct medical care and patient advocacy services and ruffling plenty of feathers of local longtime peacock groups.

For all the years they've had operations in the city, AHF simply hasn't developed good relations with establish groups or grassroots advocates particularly prevention workers and HIV negative dudes taking Truvada as pre-exposure prophylaxis. Will the new facility and outreach effort improve AHF's relationship with locals?

Neither Mike nor I can recall ever receiving a postal mail pitch like this regarding HIV testing and primary care services. Let us know if another nonprofit has ever used postcards to drum up AIDS business in San Francisco.

AIDS Orgs Must Disclose All Gilead Grants on Their Sites
(Originally posted at my Facebook campaign site on November 3.)

Recent hearings held by the Board of Supervisors have focused on access to Gilead's HIV drug Truvada for use as a PrEP regimen, but the politicians haven't addressed the price of this drug and Gilead's other HIV and hepatitis medicines.

At the same time, there's been tremendous cheerleading from AIDS service and advocacy organization pushing Truvada as PrEP, and I don't have a problem with that. What I do object to is how AIDS Inc has by and large not demanded lower pricing, and groups receiving Gilead donations have not disclosed financial support from the firm.

It's time to call on our HIV community organizations to create and regularly update transparency pages on their web sites fully disclosing all grants or in-kind gifts from Big Pharma and medical supply companies, and from all corporations. We need to see the amounts given, when they were made and for what purpose they will be used.

In our backyard, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation has received at least $600,000 from Gilead in recent years and their spokesman James Loduca worked for the firm handling public affairs for their HIV drugs (http://tinyurl.com/SFAF-Gilead-Loduca), while IRS 990 filings from Project Inform reveal they've accepted $417,000 from the company (http://tinyurl.com/PI-IRS990-2012 and also http://tinyurl.com/PI-IRS990-FY2013).

These two groups have collaborated to create a social marketing campaign promoting Truvada as PrEP, and like their home web sites, the campaign's site omits mention of robust grants from Gilead (http://tinyurl.com/SFAF-PI-PrEP).

SFAF publishes the BETA newsletter about HIV drug developments and a recent report in it looked at the AIDS Healthcare Foundation's ad campaign opposing Truvada for prevention. Nowhere does BETA disclose SFAF received money from Gilead (http://tinyurl.com/BETA-PrEP-AHF).

In New York City, the Gay Men's Health Crisis has accepted at least $400,000 from Gilead in the past two years and GMHC's Treatment Issues newsletter has also covered Truvada and like BETA failed to disclose the Gilead grants (http://tinyurl.com/GMHC-PrEP). GMHC has also organized PrEP rallies and as far as I can determine, at them doesn't make the Gilead grants transparent to participants.

Back in 2011, SFAF, PI and GMHC signed on to an open letter (http://tinyurl.com/Truvada-Letter-2011), addressed to the FDA and Gilead urging prompt review of regulations that would approve Truvada for PrEP and they weren't the only AIDS organizations that had received Gilead money to add their group's name to the letter. Other groups include:

AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts (http://tinyurl.com/AAC-Gilead-lunch);
AIDS Foundation of Chicago (http://tinyurl.com/AFC-Gilead-grants);
AIDS Research Consortium of Atlanta (http://tinyurl.com/ARCA-Gilead);
AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition (http://tinyurl.com/AVAC-Gilead);
Black AIDS Institute (http://tinyurl.com/BlackAIDS-Gilead);
Fenway Health.

And these aren't the only HIV nonprofits raking in Gilead money. According to the Gilead Foundation's IRS 990 filings from 2010 through 2012 (http://tinyurl.com/Gilead-990s-GuideStar), and 2013 (http://tinyurl.com/Gilead-IRS990-2013), the following groups received robust six-figure grants:

AIDS Atlanta, $200,000;
AIDS United, $200,000;
Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, $200,000;
Howard Brown Health Center, $400,000;
International AIDS Vaccine Coalition, $200,000;
LA Gay & Lesbian Community Center, $200,000;
Metro Teen AIDS DC, $400,000;
Whitman Walker Clinic, $500,000.

There are dozens of other groups that also accepted Gilead dollars, but in lesser amounts and regardless of the amount, all AIDS nonprofits must become transparent on their sites about the Gilead and all Big Pharma grants.

All medical journals now require financial and conflict of interest disclosures from authors and researchers, which accompanies all articles. We need the same transparency standard from AIDS groups.

If you're pissed off, #VotePetrelis!

AIDS Healthcare Fdtn Shuts Church Street Pharmacy
By Michael Petrelis

An agreement was recently reached between the Maitri Hospice and the AIDS Healthcare Foundation's over the former's lawsuit against the latter which was a tenant under the hospice's facility on Church and Duboce Streets.

At issue was the foundation's failure to pay rent for the space it was renting to operate a thrift store in the front, with counseling services and a pharmacy in the back.

Last week's Bay Area Reporter said the agreement was confidential and that AHF was expected to vacate the Maitri premises by November 15. That space would be a great #VotePetrelis office!

You may recall a number of AIDS and healthcare advocates, myself included, launched a boycott of the AHF pharmacy on 18th Street in the Castro over AHF's opposition to use of Truvada as a prevention strategy for men and women at-risk of contracting HIV.

This AIDS nonprofit faces much criticism from many HIV prevention experts and activists, charity watchdogs, adult erotic performers and the porn industry. AHF is widely known for refusing to cooperate with community organizers or porn producers.

AHF is in the process of expanding their pharmacy in the Castro and I remind everyone who opposes the conservative approach of the nonprofit to boycott the pharmacy.

I passed by their Church and Duboce location recently and snapped these photos showing AHF has moved out. If only the empty space equaled curbing the Nanny State policies of the group's leader Michael Weinstein and a reduction of their influence, I'd be quite pleased.

12 Reasons to #VotePetrelis
By Todd Swindell and Michael Petrelis

A District 8 voter asked recently us why he should vote for Michael, now that he's received his vote-by-mail ballot and wants to send it back to the Department of Elections.

We reeled off several reasons he should use his first ranked-choice vote for us, starting with he's not pleased with the politics of the incumbent Supervisor.

Then we provided him with a few accomplishments we brought about this year that he should consider as cause to vote for us:

1. Persuaded the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency to repaint white bike lane stripes protecting riders near the dangerous Market and Octavia Street intersection at the ramp to the highway. The repainting was done in August.

2. Succeeded in getting the Department of Public Works to steam clean hazardous pigeon poop from surfaces at the 16th Street BART Plaza, while also nudging the Department of Public Health, the SFMTA and BART to expand pigeon proofing and other measures to increase sanitary conditions at this transit hub. This multi-agency advocacy project transpired over June and July.

3. Obtained emails from the City Attorney Dennis Herrera's staff revealing that this office provided extensive public relations assistance, using taxpayer-funded infrastructure including organizing an author meet-and-greet inside the City Attorney's City Hall office, to assist promoting a book about Prop 8 that showcases Herrera in a favorable light. This act of civic transparency and accountability was in May.

4. Requested and received the names and demographics on all city residents killed by members of the San Francisco Police Department, in officer-involved-shootings. For the first time ever, we had a central list of all 168 such fatal shootings stretching back to 1939. The SFPD released this info in April.

5. Posted on the web in May, for the first time, a similar list of all BART police officer-involved fatal shootings.

6. After seven years of lobbying, in March convinced the DPH's director Barbara Garcia and the Health Commission to broadcast their bi-monthly meetings on SF Gov TV, bringing much-needed transparency to the DPH and its decision-making process.

7. Revealed that Protocol Chief Charlotte Shultz has a nonprofit group that receives $250,000 annually in taxpayer funds to host soirees and she's violated the sunshine law requiring the nonprofit's board to hold two public meetings each year. It took six months of public records requests to hold Shultz accountable and follow the city dollars that she uses for parties with her friends.

8. Showed that Mayor Ed Lee and his staff hadn't sent a condolence note to Alex Nieto's family and friends after he was fatally shot by an SFPD office, to express condolences over his death. This info came to light after a public records act request was made in September.

9. Obtained the list of all attendees at Mayor Ed Lee's invitation-only meeting with tech firms and executives, where current and future city policies related to the tech industry were discussed, providing sunshine over whom the Mayor meets with behind closed doors. The list was posted on the web in January.

10. Organized a picket and press conference in July at the AIDS Healthcare Foundation's pharmacy in the Castro to protest their unscientific opposition to using Truvada as a method to prevent HIV transmission to negative individuals.

11. Asked for and received monthly calendars from nine of the eleven members of the Board of Supervisors, along with the calendars from the Clerk of Board, and in January shared them on the web while calling on the Supervisors to voluntarily post their monthly calendars on their-city funded web sites.

12. For the first time, making the full audio of Dan White's bone-chilling confession to murdering George Moscone and Harvey Milk available on the web, after requesting a copy of it from the city archive at the San Francisco Public Library back in April. There can never be too much multi-media LGBT history on the web.

Just a few reasons why District 8 voters should make Petrelis their number one choice on their ballots in the remaining three weeks before Election Day.

Here's a photo of Petrelis with his friend and endorser Veronika Fimbres.

Ebola Signs Posted at UCSF's HIV Clinic
By Michael Petrelis

October 10 was my follow up visit date to get lab results from a blood draw two weeks ago and it was impossible to ignore the many signs at the HIV clinic about Ebola.

They were impossible to ignore starting with the two at the reception desk, in the examining room where my vitals were taken, and also on a bulletin board in the hallway.

Even though Ebola has not spread to San Francisco, I was curious why several alerts were posted around the UCSF 360 Positive Clinic and asked my physician if there was a special concern for HIV poz folks about the Ebola epidemic.

Dr. Susa Coffey said the signs were put up because of heightened concerns among the healthcare workers throughout the UCSF clinics and hospitals, and administrators want to build general awareness regarding Ebola.

It's never too early to educate everyone about a public health hazard and I certainly understand the fears healthcare workers have, coming in contact with lots of people with illnesses and infections.

Personally, my lab results were pretty good considering the recent week-long bout with food poisoning and going off my AIDS cocktail and all meds during that time.

As I've written before, I'm a Truvada bore and take the drug (comprised of two treatments in one pill), to combat my HIV and hepatitis B infections, and it continues to radically reduce my hepatitis B viral load.

Before my consultation was over, I shared a #VotePetrelis campaign card and button with Dr. Coffey, who wished me all the best in the election.

Final point. Dr. Coffey was pleased I got my flu shot two-weeks ago because it means I'll have maximum protection during the height of the flu season. Have you had your flu shot yet?

Wiener Accepted Gilead's Medical Affairs VP's Donation 
By Todd Swindell and Michael Petrelis

Last month, District 8 incumbent Supervisor Scott Wiener generated lots of media attention after disclosing he's taking Truvada as part of a PrEP regimen to avert contracting HIV.

The disclosure was made in advance of a hearing he and Supervisor David Campos held at City Hall, looking at a supplemental budget allocation to the Department of Public Health in order to investigate educational and cost issues related to Truvada for use for pre-exposure prophylaxis reasons.

We wondered why these gay Supervisors waited more than two-years since the FDA approved Truvada for prevention purposes and how many sexually-transmitted HIV infections occurred in San Francisco in this period that could have been averted if the at-risk individuals had access to PrEP.

A story in the Bay Area Reporter by longtime LGBT health writer Liz Highleyman on the hearing generated a comment from John Steen asking if either Supervisor had received donations from Gilead. Steen seems unaware that such info is a few clicks away.

The SF Ethics Commission's contributions search engine (http://tinyurl.com/SF-Ethics-search-engine),shows that Wiener in 2010 during his first run for Supervisor, received $125 from Hans Reiser who is Gilead's vice president for medical affairs.

We seriously doubt that donation played any role in Wiener pushing for the DPH to receive the Truvada educational allocation, but in the interests of providing transparency between the incumbent and Gilead we're sharing the info since it was omitted from the tremendous coverage last month.