California Truvada lawsuits DISMISSED

In a disappointing turn of events, approximately 24,000 lawsuits against Gilead Sciences have been recently dismissed in the California Supreme Court.

Lawsuits Over TDF Drug Injuries Dismissed After California Supreme Court Ruling

As a reminder, there are multiple lawsuits that have been filed against Gilead for continuing to promote TDF (“bad Truvada”) while knowing that the drug had severe adverse effects affecting the kidneys and bones, and while also knowing that they had a safer alternative in the pipeline (TAF, or “good Truvada”) that they refused to promote. The California Supreme Court evidently found that Gilead should not be held liable.

In a 6-to-1 opinion (PDF) issued on August 3, the California Supreme Court agreed with Gilead that the cases should be dismissed. The justices defended the company’s freedom to stop investing in a potential drug product, even if it showed the potential to be a better treatment.

Furthermore:

According to the majority opinion, plaintiffs failed to meet essential elements of negligence claims under California law. The court determined a company’s existing duties under law, while encompassing a broad area of reasonable care, do not extend to owing its customers the development of a safer alternative product.

I find the wording interesting here. A company’s “existing duties under law do not extend to owing its customers the development of a safer alternative???” In the case of Truvada, the “safer alternative” (which still had its problems) had already been developed and was being held back. This seems to me to be an important distinction.

This is a deeply disappointing outcome. However, it is not the end of the road. There remain avenues that can be pursued regarding this litigation, such as appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court, reframing claims to other state courts (this ruling applies only to California), or pursuing non-tort avenues.

This ruling effectively ends any litigation at the California level; however, the story is not over just yet as there remain multiple lawsuits active in other states and in Canada. Stay tuned.