Gilead’s patent defense pivots to offense

The government holds some patents related to Truvada, Gilead Sciences’ blockbuster HIV prevention pill, and AIDS activists have been pressuring the feds to demand a royalty on the multibillion-dollar medicine. Gilead’s response: Those patents were never valid in the first place.

As STAT’s Ed Silverman reports, the drug maker made the unexpected move of challenging the four Truvada-related patents granted to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The company is appealing to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in hopes of asserting full control of the drug’s intellectual property.

That’s unlikely to please Gilead’s critics, who argue that Truvada’s $21,100 annual cost amounts to profiteering. The drug’s price has nearly tripled since it won approval to treat HIV in 2004.

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