AIDS Nonprofit Loses Patent Appeal Against Gilead

A federal appeals court affirmed the dismissal of a lawsuit brought by the nonprofit AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) challenging Gilead’s patents on several of its HIV drugs.

In an antitrust lawsuit, AHF called on the court to invalidate five patents covering Gilead’s antiviral tenofovir alafenamide fumarate (TAF). TAF is a modified version of TDF, the compound that formed the basis of most of Gilead’s HIV treatments until the patent expired in December 2017. In its lawsuit, AHF argued the group suppressed TAF for a decade in an anticompetitive manner to prevent generic companies from cutting into its market share. 

TAF has fewer side effects than TDF and the foundation claimed the company deliberately risked patient safety by not launching a safer drug until its original product went off-patent.