The Gilead HIV drug lawsuit filed by the Justice Department claimed the drug maker violated patents held by the CDC for the use of Truvada and Descovy as preventative treatments.
Plaintiffs say they suffered bone demineralization, resulting in bone density loss and permanent injuries due to Gilead's marketing of a less safe formulation of the drugs in order to make more money.
Plaintiffs say kidney and bone injuries could have been avoided if Gilead had marketed its safer formulation to avoid the side effects of Atripla, Stribild and other HIV drugs.
Earlier Gilead antiviral drugs using similar molecular formulations carried black box warnings due to the risks of kidney damage.
Bristol-Myers Squibb has agreed to pay $10 million to resolve its part in the class action lawsuit over HIV drugs with allegedly inflated prices.
This and similar lawsuits claim Gilead sat on a safer formulation of its HIV drug for years in order to maximize its profits from the older, more toxic version.
Lawsuit indicates Gilead sat on safer drug formulations until it completely cashed in on the older, more dangerous TDF-based HIV drugs.
