STAT News reports:
In a bid to maintain its dominance in the HIV market, Gilead Sciences (GILD) allegedly conspired with other drug makers whose medicines were part of a so-called combination cocktail in order to block generic competition, according to a lawsuit filed by AIDS activists and two unions.
The complaint describes an unusual scheme concerning these cocktails, which are actually fixed-dose combinations of different medicines and have been widely used for several years to combat the virus.
Although Gilead has been a dominant player in the HIV marketplace, other companies manufacture HIV medicines that are useful components in a cocktail treatment.
The Washington Post reports:
Gilead forged deals that blocked generic competition, even after Gilead’s brand patents on key medications in the combination pills expired, according to the civil antitrust lawsuit.
Among the partners named along with Gilead as defendants were Bristol-Myers Squibb and Janssen, a division of Johnson & Johnson. Gilead said it was still digesting the 135-page lawsuit Tuesday and could not comment in detail.
The lawyers behind the lawsuit dug into Gilead’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and found the agreements that formed the core of the case. Patent-law specialists said the allegations in the lawsuit appeared to have merit and will further raise hackles on Capitol Hill.
Staley v Gilead. Actually, it’s a class action antitrust lawsuit with all the payers of AIDS drugs (including people living with HIV) on one side, and @GileadSciences +3 other pharma companies on the other. If you take HIV meds you can join the class. Keep reading next tweets /1 pic.twitter.com/w88QUb42D1
— Peter Staley (@peterstaley) May 14, 2019
The @washingtonpost just posted a great article summarizing the case. All the behaviors by the defendants described in the article and in this tweet thread are “alleged.” (wink-wink) /2https://t.co/WcLfYN81uh
— Peter Staley (@peterstaley) May 14, 2019
I’m the lead named plaintiff in the case, along with 5 other HIV+ AIDS activists, and some major payers for anti-HIV drugs. We have 23 lawyers representing us. Gilead et al. will have far more. Here is the press release from the activists. /3https://t.co/MrtNGiK0HA
— Peter Staley (@peterstaley) May 14, 2019
We allege that Gilead and the other defendants engaged in a wide range of anticompetitive conduct, allowing them to monopolize the U.S. market for HIV treatment. 89% of Americans starting HIV treatment take a Gilead drug! /4 pic.twitter.com/ybLXWFPJK6
— Peter Staley (@peterstaley) May 14, 2019
This has resulted in the cost of HIV treatment in the U.S. being dramatically higher than it would have been otherwise. With over 30 AIDS drugs on the market for the last 15+ years why aren’t we seeing ANY price competition? This is a mature market, for god’s sake. /5
— Peter Staley (@peterstaley) May 14, 2019
How did a company that invented only 2 antivirals end up dominating the market? Buried in Gilead’s SEC filings, our lawyers found the answers. As they partnered w/ other cos. to make combo-pills, the contracts kinda said “never make the same pill with a generic” /6
— Peter Staley (@peterstaley) May 14, 2019
The deal went both ways. Each company agreed not to make a combo pill using a generic version of the other company’s drug. Ultimately, we think 12 far cheaper combo pills have been blocked from the market. Is it any wonder there’s been no price competition? /7
— Peter Staley (@peterstaley) May 14, 2019
We allege two other unethical or illegal behaviors. Gilead kept an “improved” version of TDF (the main drug in PrEP) called TAF off the market for 9 yrs., and then used slimy tactics to push patients from TDF combo-pills over to TAF combo-pills. /8 pic.twitter.com/HRtMKVeJWj
— Peter Staley (@peterstaley) May 14, 2019
Finally, they struck pay-for-delay deals w/ 4 cos. that already have FDA approvals for generic PrEP! As @PrEP4AllNow recently disclosed, Gilead had nothing to do with the development of PrEP and has been infringing on the @CDCgov‘s patents instead. /9https://t.co/MVTwiAbpwc
— Peter Staley (@peterstaley) May 14, 2019
Our case outlines these pay-for-delay tactics. We should have had generic PrEP at least 2 yrs ago, and the CDC should have been dictating the terms of how these generics were marketed (we await the display of @CDCDirector Redfield’s balls if he has any). /10 pic.twitter.com/vWAOc67m01
— Peter Staley (@peterstaley) May 14, 2019
Imagine a mature HIV drug market with price competition among the combo-pills. That, in turn, would create incentives for novel therapies (we’ve waited forever for long-acting injectables) and even a cure. And it frees up Medicaid & ADAP $$’s for U=U outreach programs, etc. /11 pic.twitter.com/QMOz0C8DHq
— Peter Staley (@peterstaley) May 14, 2019
We want to stop HIV and block the profiteers. Gilead seems less like a pharma co. making life-saving products than a legal and marketing co. rigging a game of Monopoly, buying off our AIDS orgs, and raping American taxpayers. /12https://t.co/zNb6L3nGmf
— Peter Staley (@peterstaley) May 14, 2019
30 years ago, I joined other ACT UP members in shutting down trading on the NY Stock Exchange, protesting Burroughs Wellcome’s monopolistic pricing of AZT. We got the price down from $10K to around $3K. The next 3 drugs from other cos. were priced even lower. /13 pic.twitter.com/yTY7Ioscbn
— Peter Staley (@peterstaley) May 14, 2019
Even the protease inhibitors stayed well under $7K when this new class of drugs came out 7 years later. We had COMPETITION then, which led to INNOVATIONS that saved MILLIONS of lives. Gilead has turned back the clock to that 1987 monopoly. WE WILL NOT STAND FOR THIS! /14
— Peter Staley (@peterstaley) May 14, 2019