Gilead settles antitrust lawsuit

What does this mean for PrEP?

This will be a short post, but I’m trying to keep on top of the news regarding Truvada and similar drugs, so this is relevant, therefore I’ll report on it briefly. (Click the link for the article.)

We are all familiar by now with the problems Gilead Pharmaceuticals has been having with respect to Truvada; in particular, the multiple class action lawsuits regarding the serious adverse effects pursuant to the use of Truvada and similar medications.

This lawsuit I’m spotlighting today is not the same as the ongoing Truvada lawsuits; this is a case involving competition between a name brand drug manufacturer and the manufacturer of generic drugs, and it appears that Gilead has prevailed, although they have had to pay significant “settlement” money.

In a Monday order, a federal judge in California gave preliminary approval to a proposed settlement between Gilead and direct purchasers of its HIV drugs Truvada and Atripla. Specifically, the company agreed to fund a $246.75 million settlement for companies that purchased those drugs from February 2018 to November 2022, according to the order.

The long-running and expansive litigation centers on an alleged anticompetitive arrangement between Gilead and Teva, a generics giant. In 2019, various plaintiffs started claiming the companies' patent settlements on Viread, Truvada and Atripla delayed generics for years and cost them billions of dollars.

This order comes after Gilead and Teva side-stepped a much larger possible penalty. In late June, a jury sided with the pharmaceutical companies and ruled against the plaintiffs, who said they were owed $3.6 billion.

Many people might not be aware that the availability of generic drugs is very important, especially for those who don’t have prescription drug coverage, or use Medicaid.

But there is a deeper question here. Why are pharmaceutical companies given the power that they currently have? The current estimate for yearly prescriptions given in the United States is 3.9 billion, for a population of 330 million. This implies a level of power and control—over the entire population, most of whom are dependent on them for one reason or another—that is quite disturbing when you imagine its implications. If you have someone convinced that you have their health and their life in your hands, you have tremendous power over their behavior. We saw this with AIDS and yet again with Covid. When will we learn to take our power back? It’s past time.

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