The AIDS Healthcare Foundation plans to create a little distraction at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco this morning, where Merck execs will discuss their recent moves and strategy. The conference, of course, is the premier industry showcase where pharma and biotech companies get a chance to tout their pipelines and plans to analysts, fund managers and other investors.

The reason for the protest is the “steep” price of Merck’s Isentress HIV/AIDS med, which last summer was approved as a first-line treatment for the disease. AHF says there is no justification for charging $12,868 retail price for each patient annually and the $8,000 charged to state-run AIDS Drug Assistance Programs, which the group maintains is three times more than other first-line meds.

“Now that it has been approved for first-line treatment, there is no justification for Merck to price Isentress three times higher than other first-line AIDS drugs. It is pure greed,” Michael Weinstein, AHF’s president, says in a statement.

“The unwarranted price of this drug is putting an unbearable strain on taxpayer funded State AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAP) and the thousands of people who rely on them. The limited funding available for these programs is being exhausted by the high cost of Isentress and other newer AIDS drugs. Several states are now unable to provide treatment to additional people who need it, and existing ADAP clients are at risk for losing access to their meds.”