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AIDS Activists and Medical Students Stage Die-In to Call upon Tufts CSDD Researcher Joseph DiMasi to Disclose Funders

DiMasi’s estimates of development costs used by drug companies to justify astronomical prices

BOSTON, April 1, 2016: ACT UP Boston, Tufts medical students, Universities Allied for Essential Medicines, the American Medical Students Association and other community activists staged a symbolic die-in outside of the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development (CSDD) on Friday to demand transparency from Joseph DiMasi, PhD, a researcher with close ties to the pharmaceutical industry. In March, DiMasi updated his estimate of the cost of drug development, a staggering $2.87 billion for each new drug. Activists and students are concerned that DiMasi’s figures are paid for by undisclosed pharmaceutical companies and justify exorbitant prices that keep drugs out of reach and result in unnecessary suffering and death in the US and abroad.

Activists also are calling for Tufts President Anthony Monaco to investigate the Center’s relationship with pharmaceutical companies. “Whether intentional or not, DiMasi’s figures are used by pharmaceutical companies to preserve the status quo and their bottom line. We believe Tufts must disclose who funds the CSDD and investigate whether DiMasi’s funders had undue influence on his findings,” said Christopher Noble, a public health student and spokesperson for ACT UP Boston.

In March 2016, DiMasi published “Innovation in the Pharmaceutical Industry: New Estimates of R&D Costs” in the Journal of Health Economics. His findings are derived from surveys of unnamed pharmaceutical companies. DiMasi’s work has long been the subject of controversy, drawing criticism from Doctors Without Borders and even GlaskoSmithKline’s CEO Andrew Witty, who laughed off DiMasi’s 2008 estimate when it was closer to $1 billion per drug developed.

According to long-time ACT UP member Gerry Scoppettuolo, “DiMasi and Tufts are helping pharmaceutical companies exploit patients for massive profits. Hepatitis C medications that are priced at $84,000 a year put profit before people’s lives.” Scoppettuolo, who is also concerned that high prices are restricting access to HIV pre-exposure drug Truvada for men who have sex with men and low-income people of color in both the domestic and global south, said “It’s wrong for Tufts to sell their researchers to the highest bidder.”

Rolvix Patterson, a first year Tufts medical student says, “CSDD director Kenneth Kaitin and DiMasi should disclose which drug companies fund their research. This is standard professional practice in academic research to ensure transparency and confidence in their results.”

ACT UP Boston joins with other ACT UP chapters in London, Paris, and NY in demonstrating against pharmaceutical corporate greed. The activists will tweet using #pharmagreedkills.

Media contact:

  > Christopher Noble, 760-470-1011, cnoble12go@gmail.com
  > Justin Mendoza, 269-762-2073
  > #PharmaGreedKills