California Supreme Court Backs Gilead in HIV Drug Case
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- California Supreme Court ruled 6-1 in favor of Gilead Sciences, overturning a state appeals court decision from two years ago that had allowed the company to be held liable.
- More than 24,000 patients sued in federal and state court claiming they suffered kidney injury and bone loss from an older Gilead HIV drug that was available while the company slow-walked a safer alternative.
- Plaintiffs alleged Gilead "cynically managed its product pipeline" at the expense of patients who should have been treated with the safer HIV medicine.
- The pharmaceutical industry had warned the lower court ruling could let legal liability influence drug-development decisions, raising alarm across drugmakers.
Why it matters: For the 24,000-plus patients who claimed kidney injury and bone loss from Gilead's older HIV drug, the ruling shuts the door on a state-court path to compensation; for drugmakers, the decision eliminates the precedent that a company can be sued for prioritizing one product's development over another's.
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