The Trump administration sues Gilead

Gilead Sciences is being sued for patent infringement. The plaintiff? The Department of Health and Human Services, which claims that two of the company's HIV drugs were developed thanks to intellectual property belonging to the CDC.

The suit claims that Gilead historically has refused to agree to a licensing deal, and now is making hundreds of millions of dollars on research that was funded by taxpayers, STAT’s Ed Silverman writes. Meanwhile, Gilead’s been slowly upping the cost of the pre-exposure prophylactic, or PrEP, drugs that are under question — with Truvada increasing from $650 a month in 2004 to $1,750 this year. AIDS activists have been pressing HHS to take action.

“Gilead’s conduct was malicious, wanton, deliberate, consciously wrongful, flagrant, and in bath faith,” the suit contends.