15 Sep 2014, New Delhi
Delhi Network of Positive People (DNP+) and Indian Drug User Forum (IDUF) organized a silent protest at Gilead Presser held at Hotel Taj Palace where Gilead made an announcement about signing voluntary license agreements with Indian generic companies to expand access to Sofosbuvir (hepatitis C) medicines.
Message from the community was clear and simple.
Gilead Voluntary License blocks access! Almost 50 million people living with Hep-C in middle income countries still left out from this license.
However, the silent protest was disrupted by hotel staff and infact some of us were beaten up and man handled by them. While the ignorance of Hotel Staff on understanding the sensitivity around this issue and the fact that silent protests is a common practice of community with no intention of causing damage to anything or anyone, was obvious. What was surprising for us was that Gilead Sciences refused to intervene and continued with their press conference inside while some of us were being dragged outside the hotel.
This incidence has shaken us for a bit but clearly not deterred us in any way.
Our fight for access is far from over, so the battle will continue.
In Solidarity
DNP+ and IDUF
Don't trade our lives away 