Gilead Sciences and the U.S. government have reached a settlement in their patent dispute over the HIV prevention drugs Truvada and Descovy, according to a filing in Delaware federal court on Wednesday. The settlement comes after a jury sided with Gilead in 2023, rejecting the government’s allegations of patent infringement.
Deborah Telman, Gilead’s General Counsel, expressed satisfaction with the resolution, stating that the agreement allows Gilead to “focus its resources on its mission to discover, develop, and deliver innovative therapeutics to people with life-threatening diseases.”
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), did not immediately provide additional comment on the settlement.
The dispute arose after Gilead, based in Foster City, California, collaborated with the CDC in the mid-2000s to test Truvada for HIV prevention. The government alleged that Gilead failed to properly compensate the CDC for its role in discovering that Truvada could prevent HIV infections, in addition to its original use in treating the virus.
The lawsuit claimed Gilead overstated its contribution to the development of the HIV-prevention regimen, known as PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis), and neglected to license the CDC’s patents. The government had sought up to $691 million in damages from Truvada and $311 million from Descovy, two drugs that together earned Gilead over $1.8 billion in U.S. sales in 2023.
In a related legal matter, a separate 2022 ruling from a Washington, D.C. federal court found that the government had breached research agreements with Gilead when applying for patents without giving the company adequate notice.
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