The Quiet Storm
03-28-2001, 01:39 AM
San Francisco may ban 'sexy' ads for HIV drugs
March 16, 2001
Web posted at: 12:54 PM EST (1754 GMT)
SAN FRANCISCO, California (Reuters) -- San Francisco may become the first city in the United States to ban "sexy" advertising for HIV drugs -- with officials and activists saying images depicting AIDS patients as "handsome, healthy and strong" may be encouraging unsafe sexual practices.
Tom Ammiano, the president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, said on Thursday he had called an April 12 hearing on the proposed advertising ban, which would cover ads on city property such as bus shelters.
MESSAGE BOARD
AIDS prevention
"This is about the rising rates of HIV infection, particularly in young people, versus the glamorization of the drugs in advertising," Ammiano told Reuters. "It sends a message that if you get infected, just take a pill and you'll be beautiful and happy."
San Francisco, one of the U.S. cities hardest hit by the AIDS epidemic, is awash in advertising for anti-AIDS medications, with posters for such drugs as Merck & Co's Crixivan and Bristol-Myers Squibb's Zerit showing young, athletic men climbing mountains or declaring "I'm Positive" with seductive smiles.
Concerned that the advertising may be sending the wrong message about AIDS, the San Francisco Department of Public Health launched a survey of men seeking treatment for sexually transmitted diseases at public clinics.
Jeff Klausner, who conducted the study, said the preliminary results of the survey were disturbing and backed theories that "treatment optimism" might be one reason for the rising levels of new HIV infections in the city.
The survey found that 71 percent of respondents found the HIV drug advertisements depicted men who were "healthy, handsome and strong," and 61 percent said such advertising could affect a person's decision to have unprotected sex by downplaying the disease's serious physical toll.
"These drug ads are using sex to sell HIV medicines, which is like using (hamburgers) to sell cholesterol medicine," Klausner said.
HIV medication has become increasingly effective -- and expensive -- with the advent of the new "cocktail" therapies credited with helping many AIDS patients survive longer. A study published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that the annual per patient cost of HIV drugs in the United States have risen to $9,852, up some 33 percent from 1996.
Meanwhile, rising rates of new HIV infection have become a serious concern in San Francisco, where public health experts warn that a rebound epidemic may be underway among gay and bisexual men after years of stable infection levels.
San Francisco this year reported that the current rate of new infections with HIV, the virus which causes AIDS, among gay men was 2.2 percent, up from 1.04 percent in 1997 -- projecting roughly 748 new infections this year.
Public health experts say the San Francisco data was a clear sign that after years of aggressive prevention programs, safer-sex publicity and new drug treatments, the gay community was losing its vigilance against the HIV virus.
San Francisco became one of the first centers of the AIDS epidemic in the early 1980s, when as many as half the gay men in the city were believed to be infected with HIV. Since 1981, more than 18,000 San Franciscans have died of AIDS.
Jeff Getty, a member of the San Francisco-based activist group Survive AIDS, said the drug companies' push to market treatments to the city's gay population had created a false sense of what it means to be infected with HIV and use the drugs, some of which can have debilitating side effects.
"These ads are in fact selling a fantasy, happy HIV-infected lifestyle. They are marketing the disease along with the treatments. We believe they (the drug companies) know this fact, but will deny it," Getty said.
Stephanie Brooks, a spokeswoman for Bristol-Myers Squibb, said the company considered its advertising as a way of opening communication between patient and physician about various HIV therapy options.
"We will continue to revisit our ads and make sure they are reaching the appropriate audiences with the appropriate message," Brooks said.
Ammiano said next month's hearing on the HIV advertising was intended to draw the drug companies into a dialogue with the AIDS activist community and city officials in hopes of forging a clearer message about life with HIV and the dangers of infection.
"I think they need to reformulate their message," Ammiano said. "We need to have a conversation so that their ads are not as misleading, that they include the prevention message, and list side effects (of the drugs)."
Food and Drug Administration spokesman Richard Klein said the FDA was interested in seeing more data before it could reach any conclusions about the claimed link between unsafe sex and HIV drug advertising.
"I'm hearing a lot of concern over this ... but so far we don't have legal jurisdiction to require them (drug companies) to change something at this point," Klein said
March 16, 2001
Web posted at: 12:54 PM EST (1754 GMT)
SAN FRANCISCO, California (Reuters) -- San Francisco may become the first city in the United States to ban "sexy" advertising for HIV drugs -- with officials and activists saying images depicting AIDS patients as "handsome, healthy and strong" may be encouraging unsafe sexual practices.
Tom Ammiano, the president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, said on Thursday he had called an April 12 hearing on the proposed advertising ban, which would cover ads on city property such as bus shelters.
MESSAGE BOARD
AIDS prevention
"This is about the rising rates of HIV infection, particularly in young people, versus the glamorization of the drugs in advertising," Ammiano told Reuters. "It sends a message that if you get infected, just take a pill and you'll be beautiful and happy."
San Francisco, one of the U.S. cities hardest hit by the AIDS epidemic, is awash in advertising for anti-AIDS medications, with posters for such drugs as Merck & Co's Crixivan and Bristol-Myers Squibb's Zerit showing young, athletic men climbing mountains or declaring "I'm Positive" with seductive smiles.
Concerned that the advertising may be sending the wrong message about AIDS, the San Francisco Department of Public Health launched a survey of men seeking treatment for sexually transmitted diseases at public clinics.
Jeff Klausner, who conducted the study, said the preliminary results of the survey were disturbing and backed theories that "treatment optimism" might be one reason for the rising levels of new HIV infections in the city.
The survey found that 71 percent of respondents found the HIV drug advertisements depicted men who were "healthy, handsome and strong," and 61 percent said such advertising could affect a person's decision to have unprotected sex by downplaying the disease's serious physical toll.
"These drug ads are using sex to sell HIV medicines, which is like using (hamburgers) to sell cholesterol medicine," Klausner said.
HIV medication has become increasingly effective -- and expensive -- with the advent of the new "cocktail" therapies credited with helping many AIDS patients survive longer. A study published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that the annual per patient cost of HIV drugs in the United States have risen to $9,852, up some 33 percent from 1996.
Meanwhile, rising rates of new HIV infection have become a serious concern in San Francisco, where public health experts warn that a rebound epidemic may be underway among gay and bisexual men after years of stable infection levels.
San Francisco this year reported that the current rate of new infections with HIV, the virus which causes AIDS, among gay men was 2.2 percent, up from 1.04 percent in 1997 -- projecting roughly 748 new infections this year.
Public health experts say the San Francisco data was a clear sign that after years of aggressive prevention programs, safer-sex publicity and new drug treatments, the gay community was losing its vigilance against the HIV virus.
San Francisco became one of the first centers of the AIDS epidemic in the early 1980s, when as many as half the gay men in the city were believed to be infected with HIV. Since 1981, more than 18,000 San Franciscans have died of AIDS.
Jeff Getty, a member of the San Francisco-based activist group Survive AIDS, said the drug companies' push to market treatments to the city's gay population had created a false sense of what it means to be infected with HIV and use the drugs, some of which can have debilitating side effects.
"These ads are in fact selling a fantasy, happy HIV-infected lifestyle. They are marketing the disease along with the treatments. We believe they (the drug companies) know this fact, but will deny it," Getty said.
Stephanie Brooks, a spokeswoman for Bristol-Myers Squibb, said the company considered its advertising as a way of opening communication between patient and physician about various HIV therapy options.
"We will continue to revisit our ads and make sure they are reaching the appropriate audiences with the appropriate message," Brooks said.
Ammiano said next month's hearing on the HIV advertising was intended to draw the drug companies into a dialogue with the AIDS activist community and city officials in hopes of forging a clearer message about life with HIV and the dangers of infection.
"I think they need to reformulate their message," Ammiano said. "We need to have a conversation so that their ads are not as misleading, that they include the prevention message, and list side effects (of the drugs)."
Food and Drug Administration spokesman Richard Klein said the FDA was interested in seeing more data before it could reach any conclusions about the claimed link between unsafe sex and HIV drug advertising.
"I'm hearing a lot of concern over this ... but so far we don't have legal jurisdiction to require them (drug companies) to change something at this point," Klein said