This poster is one of a series produced by the
radical AIDS activist group ACT UP Manchester. The posters
document, through newspaper cuttings, the group's demonstrations
against individuals and organisations they considered to be
hindering the fight against AIDS, or discriminating against people
with HIV.
The protests documented here are against the
Wellcome drug company, which developed and patented the early
retroviral drug AZT. ACT UP criticised drug companies for failing
to work together to find a cure for AIDS, and for considering
"profits more important than cures". Wellcome was singled out for
the high cost of AZT to the NHS. The poster lists, and urges a
boycott of, common pharmaceutical products manufactured by
Wellcome.
ACT UP (standing for AIDS Coalition To Unleash
Power) was a grassroots direct action organisation, founded in New
York in 1987, which quickly established local groups around the
world. Their protests were key in Wellcome's eventual reduction of
the AZT's price. AZT is still used in some combination therapies,
but the drug's patent expired in 2005, allowing for its cheaper
generic manufacture.