HomeBusinessGilead Sciences and the US government settle patent lawsuit over HIV drugs

Gilead Sciences and the US government settle patent lawsuit over HIV drugs

By Blake Brittain

(Reuters) – Gilead Sciences and the U.S. government have settled a $1 billion patent dispute over Gilead’s HIV prevention drugs Truvada and Descovy, according to a filing filed in federal court in Delaware on Wednesday.

The settlement follows a victory for Gilead in a 2023 jury trial over the government’s patent infringement allegations.

Gilead General Counsel Deborah Telman said in a statement that the agreement “enables Gilead to continue to focus its resources on its mission to discover, develop and deliver innovative therapies to people with life-threatening diseases.”

Spokespeople for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did not immediately respond to a request for comment and more information about the settlement.

Foster City, California-based Gilead worked with the CDC in the mid-2000s to test whether Gilead’s Truvada could prevent the transmission of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and also treat it. The federal government said Gilead has failed to compensate the CDC for the discovery that Truvada can prevent HIV infections.

See also  Yale SOM's 2024 struggles mirrored MBA peers' struggles: average payout down 8.5%

The lawsuit alleged that Gilead “exaggerated” its role in developing the drug’s HIV prevention regimen, known as PrEP, or pre-exposure prophylaxis, ignored the CDC’s submissions and refused to license the CDC’s patents give.

The government said in a court filing that it was entitled to damages of up to $691 million from Truvada and $311 million from Gilead’s related drug Descovy. Gilead earned more than $1.8 billion from U.S. sales of Descovy and Truvada in 2023.

A federal court in Washington, D.C., ruled in a separate lawsuit in 2022 that the government violated research agreements with Gilead by applying for the patents without giving the company sufficient notice.

(Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington; Editing by David Bario and Bill Berkrot)

- Advertisement -
RELATED ARTICLES

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Most Popular

Recent Comments