Hollywood AIDS agency takes on drug maker, HMO. (Up Front).

When the Hollywood-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation set about opening its first international clinic last year in South Africa, founder Michael Weinstein was so enraged by the prices GlaxoSmithKline charged for critical HIV-fighting drugs -- far higher than other big pharmaceutical companies -- that the foundation wound up suing the company.

It has also sued PacifiCare Health Systems Inc., alleging that the Cypress insurer was failing to provide adequate care for HIV-positive enrollees, in a lawsuit still being fought out.

The foundation got its start 15 years ago as an ad hoc committee opposing a state initiative that would have quarantined AIDS patients -- and today boasts of being the nation's largest provider of specialized HIV care, with a dozen U.S. clinics mostly in Southern California.

But its latest role has become a high-profile thorn in the side of corporate health care interests.

"I am not trying to win a popularity contest," says Weinstein, 49. "The only way to measure our success is to count how many lives we have saved."

Confrontational beginnings

The foundation long has had a confrontational history.

In taking on the 1986 initiative sponsored by Lyndon LaRouche, the "Stop the AIDS Quarantine Committee" had its biggest success when it organized a torchlight march to LaRouche's headquarters in Atwater.

Later, as a group that sought to open the county's first AIDS hospice, it had success after organizing a march outside the home of Supervisor Mike Antonovich for comments he had made about the sexual behavior of gay men.

It also clashed last year with West Hollywood bar, restaurant and hotel owners who opposed a foundation-backed initiative that would have required them to distribute condoms and safe sex literature. The measure was defeated.

But none of those efforts were on the scale of its current fight, first against PacifiCare and now against Glaxo.

Last year, the foundation claimed in a lawsuit that PacifiCare was failing to abide by a new state law requiring insurers to provide HIV-positive and AIDS-stricken enrollees standing referrals to AIDS specialists.

Weinstein maintains that PacifiCare is the worst among insurers in following the law -- calling it the "junkyard dog of the industry." He's not wild about the industry in general. "Our patients on Skid Row get better care than the average HMO patient," he says.

PacifiCare, which is vigorously fighting the lawsuit, accuses the foundation of unsavory tactics. The lawsuit was filed after PacifiCare refused to sign up the foundation as one of its medical care providers, says Tyler Mason, a spokesman for PacifiCare.

"They were trying to force their way into a contract, but we work with some of the premier medical groups and hospitals in L.A. County," says Mason.

Weinstein says he "pleads guilty," but only to the extent that the organization, which only employs AIDS specialists, should be in PacifiCare's provider network. "We should not be the only provider but we should not be excluded," he says.

Glaxo tactics

The foundation has employed similar tactics against Glaxo.

After concluding that the costs of its AIDS drugs were too high, the foundation banned the company's sales reps from its U.S. clinics this year and called on Glaxo to lower its prices.

The foundation also asked for a voluntary license of the company's AIDS drugs in Africa so it could have them manufactured at a rock-bottom generic price, as little as $240 to $420 for an annual regimen.

(By contrast Glaxo, even with price cuts announced this month, still charges $1,600 for an annual regimen of Trizivir, one of its most effective AIDS drug cocktails.)

The foundation further called on Glaxo to increase its philanthropic contributions to AIDS organizations, with Weinstein unabashedly asking for a direct contribution to the foundation.

Weinstein met with Glaxo Chief Executive Jean-Pierre Garnier on June 24 but said he "had nothing to offer." On July 1, the foundation sued the multinational in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, challenging its patents and seeking damages.

That tactic drew criticism from some in the AIDS community as "opportunism," but Weinstein is unapologetic. "The mission of the organization is to save clients," he says.

Glaxo would not comment directly on the demands the foundation placed on the company or the lawsuit but said it is working hard to lower prices to a level that covers its manufacturing costs and are therefore "sustainable."

"You have to ensure you can provide that medication as long as the patient needs it. If you offer a medicine below cost, you can't do that," said spokeswoman Nancy Pekarek.

John Gile, executive director of Project Angel Food, which provides home meals to L.A. County AIDS patients, said he supports Weinstein's tactics.

"The people they are serving are the most vulnerable people of all. They are not spoken for. I would use the softer, gentler approach, but it takes fighting," Gile said.