Gilead Sciences lawsuit claims HIV drugs toxic to patients’ kidneys, bones

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Gilead Sciences HIV drugs lawsuit overview: 

• Who: Darren Johnson and Roslyn Rochester filed a lawsuit against Gilead Sciences Inc. 
• Why: Johnson and Rochester claim Gilead designed HIV drugs containing a compound that was toxic to patients’ kidneys and bones.
• Where: The lawsuit was filed in California federal court.

Gilead Sciences Inc. designed its HIV drugs to contain a form of the compound tenofovir that the company “knew was toxic to patients’ kidneys and bones,” a new lawsuit alleges. 

Plaintiffs Darren Johnson and Roslyn Rochester claim that, while tenofovir has “promising” anti-HIV properties, Gilead either knew or should have known that the drug “cannot be administered effectively by mouth.” 

Johnson and Rochester argue Gilead, meanwhile, decided to develop a form of tenofovir — called tenofovir disoproxil and with a fumaric acid salt tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF)  — that can be taken orally, after figuring an intravenous version of the drug “had little sales potential.” 

“Gilead knew or reasonably should have known that the TDF Drugs were dangerous or likely to be dangerous when used in a reasonably foreseeable manner,” the Gilead lawsuit states. 

Johnson and Rochester claim they ultimately suffered injuries after ingesting one or more of the prescription drugs Viread, Truvada, Atripla, Complera and Stribild, all of which contain TDF as an active ingredient.

“Before Gilead began selling its first TDF Drug, Viread, in 2001, Gilead knew that TDF posed a safety risk to patients’ kidneys and bones,” the Gilead lawsuit states. 

Gilead knew ‘relatively high’ dose of TDF created ‘greater risk of toxic effects,’ suit says

Johnson and Rochester further argue Gilead knew the “relatively high” dose of TDF in the drugs created a “greater risk of toxic effects” and that, by the time it designed Stribild, “it had ten years’ worth of cumulative evidence that TDF injured patients’ kidneys and bones.” 

“Gilead intentionally withheld a safer alternative design of TDF Drugs it knew to be dangerously toxic to patients’ kidneys and bones, while failing to adequately warn about the risks and safer use of the defective drugs, solely to make more money,” the Gilead lawsuit states. 

Johnson and Rochester claim Gilead is guilty of fraud by omission, negligence and gross negligence, in addition to violations of strict products liability under Massachusetts and Missouri law. 

Plaintiffs are demanding a jury trial and requesting declaratory relief along with an award of actual, compensatory, punitive, exemplary and/or statutory damages. 

Gilead agreed to pay $4 million earlier this month to resolve claims the pharmaceutical company failed to maintain HIV status privacy when sending out HIV-related mailings. 

Have you been injured after taking HIV drugs manufactured by Gilead? Let us know in the comments! 

The plaintiffs are represented by Jack Griffith Rutherford of Rutherford Law PC, and Richard A. Hinojosa and Charles M. Stam of Hinojosa Law PLLC. 

The Gilead Sciences HIV drugs lawsuit is Johnson, et al. v. Gilead Sciences Inc., Case No. 4:23-cv-01439, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

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