A person who has been diagnosed with HIV might be presented with several treatment options. The drug Truvada could be recommended as a traditional treatment option or in conjunction with alternative treatment choices.

What Does Truvada Do?

Truvada is an HIV drugin a class known as nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors. It was originally approved by the FDA in 2004 and was approved as a PrEP to prevent HIV for people classified as high risk as of July 2012.

If used for HIV treatment, Truvada must be used in conjunction with other drugs. Truvada is made up of two other drugs: Viread and Emtriva. The drug blocks an enzyme known as HIV reverse transcriptase that can help to stop HIV from making further copies of itself in the body.

Should Only Certain People Use Truvada?

Truvada is recommended by the CDC as a pre-exposure prophylaxis for an HIV-negative person who meets the following criteria:

• Is currently in an ongoing relationship with a partner who has been infected with HIV
• A bisexual or gay man who has had sex without a condom or has already been diagnosed with a sexually transmitted infection recently
• Any heterosexual man or woman who does not use condoms when having sex with people who could be at risk for HIV
• Anyone who has been involved with injection drug use recently

As a PrEP drug, Truvada has been shown to be effective in reducing the risk of HIV.

What Are the Side Effects of Truvada?

Like all drugs, patients who use this medicine as prescribed could face the risk of side effects. Some of the most common side effects are headaches, dizziness, depression, nausea, abnormal dreams and problems sleeping. Truvada has also been connected to more serious Truvada problems, including kidney issues and kidney failure.

Some patients who used Truvada as directed have developed serious bone and kidney problems as explained in a lawsuit against the makers of the drug. Some of the people who have taken legal action argue that Gilead, the company that made Truvada, failed to make a safer medication available even though they had one ready.

What Does the Class Action Lawsuit Over Gilead Argue?

The class action legal claim brought against Gilead partly through the support of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation claims that the bone and kidney problems were known by Gilead, but that the company instead chose to allow the drug to stay on the market while the maker held the patent.

The drug Truvada lawsuit claims that the company developed a safer alternative, but instead held on to it to pursue a separate patent application when the drug Truvada patent expired. One of the patients named in the lawsuit developed osteopenia and osteoporosis of the spine, hip and neck. Another patient was diagnosed with a rare kidney disorder and additional medical problems.

Has Gilead Faced Other Criticism Over the Drug?

Gilead has also come under fire for the pricing and policy around Truvada. HIV activists have argued that Truvada is one of the best treatments for HIV, and could end the epidemic, but is inaccessible because of its high pricing, making preventative treatments for HIV, PrEP, “a luxury rather than an imperative,” says NBC. 

In 2018, NBC reported on an op-ed published in the New York Times, written by two HIV activists, Peter Staley, James Krellestein, and a physician: Dr. Aaron Lord.

According to the three authors of the op-ed, Truvada costs around $2,000 a month in the United States — up from its initial price of $1,200. In contrast, the drug is available in its generic form for under $100 a month. Nonetheless, the number of people on the drug is reportedly steadily increasing.

NBC says that Gilead’s representatives shot back at this statistic, noting that most Americans do not pay this cost, because they use their insurance and copay assistance cards.

The activists have launched a #BreakThePatent movement, arguing that if all people who were considered “at risk” were to take the drug, the HIV epidemic would likely end. However, they say that less than ten percent of people who should be on PrEP are taking the daily prevention pill, even though it’s been over six years since the drug was released.

Allegedly, a generic version of Truvada was promised but never delivered, and the patent stayed with Gilead.

Do I Have Grounds for a Lawsuit?

If you are a patient who was given the drug Truvada as part of an HIV treatment or due to your risk of exposure to someone who did have HIV and you ultimately developed serious health issues, you could benefit from speaking with a defective drug lawyer through Top Class Actions.