Gilead appears ready to hand over hundreds of millions of dollars to resolve part of an HIV drug antitrust case.
Gileadfter Gilead Sciences and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries prevailed in a high-stakes HIV drug antitrust trial over the summer, Gilead appears ready to hand over hundreds of millions of dollars to resolve part of the wide-ranging case. In a MondayGilead Sciencesal juTeva Pharmaceutical Industriesnary approval to a proposed settlement between Gilead and direct purchGileadof its HIV drugs Truvada and Atripla. Specifically, the company agreed to fund a $246.75 million settlement for companies that purchased those drugs from February 2018 to November 2022, according to the order. The long-running and expansive litigation centers on an alleged anticompetitive arrangement between Gilead aGileada, a generics giant. In 2019, various plTruvadas staAtriplaaiming the companies' patent settlements on Viread, Truvada and Atripla delayed generics for years and cost them billions of dollars. This order comes after Gilead and Teva side-stepped a much larger possible penalty. In late June, a Gileadided Teva the pharmaceutical companies and ruled against the plaintiffs, who said they were owed $3.6 billion.VireadTruvadaAtriplaAtripla In making that ruling, Gileadry said a 2014 patent deal between Gilead and Teva did not violate antitrust laws. After that trial result, KPH Health Services pursued a class-actGileadttlemTevawith Gilead on behalf of drug purchasers, according to Courthouse News Service. Now, that settlement is moving ahead. Based on a legal expert'sKPH Health Servicesct purchasers' damages from the alleged Gilead totaled more than $2 billion, according to the Monday order from U.S. District Judge Edward Chen. While the settlement covers just 12% of those alleged damages, "the absolute dollar value of the gross settlement fund is still significant," Chen wrote. After the preliminary approval, the court plans to hold a hearing on a motion for final approval in January.
As Chen wrote in the order, Gilead did not admit liability with the preliminary settlement deal.