Numerous patients are coming forward reporting unexplained side effects linked to Complera medication.

The Complera medication is one of several different types of TDF or tenofovir disoproxil fumarate drugs that may cause kidney and bone problems. This class of common HIV medications, according to some patients, doesn’t come with appropriate warnings about the side effects.

These patients also say that the companies knew they had safer medications that they could have put on the market but instead promoted Complera and other similar drugs instead of those with fewer side effects, ultimately leaving patients to suffer the consequences of the more dangerous drugs.

Although other side effects have been associated with the Complera medication, the reported bone and kidney problems are some of the most serious. In fact, four HIV positive patients have now filed a lawsuit alleging Complera medication side effects in California. The Complera medication lawsuit is seeking punitive as well as compensatory damages.

TDF medications block a particular enzyme’s action that enables HIV to multiply inside a patient’s body. The Complera medication and others like it work by controlling the volume of the virus in the body, enabling the patient to live a healthier and longer life by blocking that enzyme. Many of the patients taking the Complera medication become much less contagious while taking it as well.

TDF medications were originally approved in 2001 for HIV treatment. But numerous different reports have indicated that the Complera medication and others in the same class can increase a patient’s risk of bone and kidney problems.

More than 17 different studies regarding TDF treatments were reviewed in 2010, and that analysis identified that the Complera medication and other TDF drugs led to a dramatic decrease in kidney function.

A correlation was also noted between the loss of bone density and the drug, particularly for younger patients. The Complera medication plaintiffs claim that the manufacturer, Gilead, knew about these significant side effects and had a safer alternative ready but withheld it from the market, in order to maximize the profits on TDF before the patent on it ran out.

In fact, the Complera medication lawsuit says that there is evidence that Gilead knew in 2001 that TDF could toxic in prescribed and recommended doses. Plaintiffs argue that the company also had data revealing the risk of bone and kidney damage for patients using the drug as prescribed.

At that time the manufacturers were allegedly exploring other drug options, one of which delivers the tenofovir effectively and with a much-reduced chance of harming the bones or the kidneys.

The patients who filed the Complera medication lawsuit say that the manufacturers failed to put the alternative on the market in a time period that would have prevented severe injuries for patients already taking the drug. Further, they allegedly failed to notify current users of the medication that they were at risk of developing these dangerous side effects.