Northern Ireland's foremost gay campaign group the Rainbow Project got £25,000 from pharma firm which has been heavily criticised by AIDS activists

The controversy surrounding Gilead largely relates to accusations of profiteering around Truvada, a drug that can prevent the transmission of HIV – a disease which continues to have a vastly disproportionate effect on gay people, and about which the Rainbow Project has campaigned.

Although the 2021 Census found that 2.8% of the UK population were gay or bisexual, 36% of people diagnosed with HIV in England were gay or bisexual, as were 52% of those diagnosed in Scotland.

In the UK, generic versions of Truvada are available freely on the NHS.

But in the USA the company has come in for sharp criticism from politicians over the price of the drug, which effectively placed it off-limits to anyone without health insurance.

The Congressional Committee on Oversight and Reform investigated Gilead's behaviour in 2019, and was told that the drug had netted the company a total of $36bn.

This was in part because Gilead was charging US patients what committee chairman Elijah Cummings called an "astronomical" $70 per pill – roughly $2,000 per month – whereas elsewhere it was selling the drug for less than $7 per pill because "Gilead has generic competitors there, but not here".

Prominent progressive politicians went on to denounce the firm's "greed", as did gay AIDS activist Dr Aaron Lord.

To this day, the controversy around Truvada has yet to fully abate; just last year the US government tried to sue Gilead, claiming that it was owed about $1bn in unpaid royalties for helping to develop the drug.

Gilead often gives money to what are now termed “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, intersex, asexual, and more” causes worldwide, leading some people online to accuse the firm of "pinkwashing" (in other words, seeking to deflect criticism by portraying itself as close to the LGBTQQIA+ movement).

In response to the donation to the Rainbow Project, Michael Weinstein, president of the US-based non-profit the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, told the News Letter: "Gilead is the poster child for drug company greed... they always choose profit over people.

"Dropping a few crumbs off the table to help struggling non-profits is just a fig leaf to cover-up their irresponsibility."

The Rainbow Project has previously said that the authorities must strive to "end new HIV infections within a generation".

Repeated efforts have been made to elicit some comment from the Rainbow Project, and details of what Gilead's £25,000 was used for, but no response has been forthcoming.

Gilead told the News Letter: "Gilead has been in the fight against HIV for more than 35 years and has an unwavering commitment to helping end the HIV epidemic for everyone, everywhere.

"We’re proud of our work to help tackle the root causes of the HIV epidemic worldwide, and are in constant conversation with scientists, advocates, medical professionals and other individuals who share our commitment to better understand their needs and determine where support is needed.

"For every type of therapy we develop, our strategy includes just as much focus on health equity – how we will reach those who stand to benefit – as it does on scientific research, manufacturing and marketing.

"We believe impact is best achieved by working together with those on the ground and within the community and we are proud that Gilead has been recognized as the number one funder of HIV-related philanthropy globally in a report by the Funders Concerned About AIDS (FCAA), widely regarded as the most comprehensive study of its kind."