Humana Charges Gilead, Other Companies Sought to Limit HIV Drug Competition

Did Gilead Sciences collude with other drug companies to delay its blockbuster HIV pills from reaching the end of their patents? Did the company offer sweet deals to a generic drugmaker to keep it from coming to market with much more affordable versions of Gilead’s HIV drugs?

That’s what a new complaint from Humana alleges.

The health insurance giant filed a lawsuit in federal court this week against Gilead, Teva Pharmaceutical, Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) and Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen, alleging they conspired with Gilead to extend HIV drug patents, thus quashing competition, keeping prices high and forcing Humana into paying high prices on drugs that should have come off patent years ago.

The suit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California claims that defendants’ anticompetitive schemes involved unlawful contracts, combinations and restraints of trade in the markets for HIV combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) regimen drugs, and unlawful monopolization.