Florida Stribild Lawsuit Attorneys

Stribild injury lawsuits are claims filed against Gilead Science Inc., the maker of the HIV medication that contains TDF, a substance shown to cause dangerous and sometimes fatal side effects, such as kidney failure, lactic acidosis and bone fractures.

Not only was the drug dangerous and defectively-designed, plaintiffs say, but the manufacturer intentionally misled doctors and the public about the risks and further delayed the development and release of a safer alternative for HIV/AIDS patients.

Stribild, first approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2012, is an expensive medication (roughly $28,500 per patient annually) comprised of four substances:

• TDF (tenofovir disoproxil)
• Emtricitabine
• Cobicistate
• Elvitegravir

It is one of five medications produced by Gilead containing TDF (tenofovir disproxil fumarate). The first of these HIV drugs was first released in 2001 and marketed under the brand name Viread. It was followed by Atripla, Truvada and Complera. Generic versions of TDF were unveiled shortly after Gilead’s patent on the first TDF medications expired in 2017.

Stribild is not a cure for HIV/AIDS, but the claim is that it helps prolong a person’s life by preventing HIV cells in the body from multiplying or spreading. It has had success as an antiretroviral that has helped reduce the damaging effects of HIV. However, the drug is extremely toxic and must be taken at high doses.

People who took Stribild and suffered some of the more serious side effects have begun pursuing legal action against Gilead.

Florida Stribild injury attorneys know the main arguments put forth in these cases are that:

• Gilead knew about these complications, but failed to adequately warn of these risks, in some cases ignoring or downplaying the potential harm to doctors and patients. There is even evidence the company falsely represented its TDF-based drugs to have benefits which the company knew they did not have. Specifically, claimants say Gilead misrepresented these drugs as safe, with only limited risk of kidney or bone damage and without calling for monitoring the early signs of toxicity.
• Gilead intentionally delayed the release of a safer alternative to drugs like Stribild so that it could maximize profits for as long as it held a patent on TDF drugs. The alternative, tenofovir alafenamide (TAF), was released in various brand names under a myriad of brand names starting in 2015. TAF was known to be safer because it could be just as effective while administered in smaller doses.

Plaintiffs in Stribild claims allege they suffered grievous personal injury as a result of taking the medication.

Although nausea and dizziness are the most common side effects of taking Stribild, the most serious complications include:

• New onset renal (kidney) impairment.
• Worsening renal impairment.
• Acute renal failure.
• Fanconi syndrome (kidney malfunction that causes important metabolites necessary for proper functioning to be excreted rather than absorbed).
• Severe liver problems.
• Lactic acidosis (potentially fatal condition related to kidney or liver function that occurs when a person’s body is unable to remove excess acid from their body). Fatal cases of lactic acidosis associated with tenofovir disoproxil medications were reported soon after TDF medications first became available in 2001. The British Medical Journal reported in the case of one patient who died of lactic acidosis soon after taking a TDF drug that “Tenofovir is being increasingly used even though its safety is not certain…”
• Decreases in bone mineral density (including heightened risk of osteoporosis and pathologic fractures).

These conditions have the potential to greatly diminish one’s quality of life. In some cases, they’ve proven deadly.

If you have suffered any of these complications after taking Stribild, it’s important to consult with an experienced product liability attorney as soon as possible to ascertain whether you have grounds for a claim.

Hundreds of people have filed lawsuits or joined class action litigation against Gilead for injuries stemming from TDF-based medications like Stribild.

In one class action lawsuit, plaintiffs say Gilead knew as early as 2001 that using TAF instead of TDF would reduce the risks of kidney and bone damage for HIV/AIDS patients. But rather than inform doctors and patients and focus on releasing the safer TAF alternative as soon as possible, Gilead chose to withhold TAF because the company “enjoyed monopoly profits on its TDF-containing drugs.” Neither did the company publish its research showing the benefits of TAF vs. TDF until just before it was preparing to release a line of TAF medications.

“Gilead kept patients and doctors in the dark about the toxicity, kidney and bone loss risks associated with TDF (because) it could continue to increase its market share with TDF,” pharmaceuticals on which it made billions in profits.

Plaintiffs say that had the company opted to release TAF sooner, thousands and likely tens of thousands of patient injuries and an unknown number of deaths could have been prevented.

Contact Florida Stribild injury lawyers at The Ansara Law Firm by calling (954) 761-4011 or (954) 761-3641.