The US takes on a drug giant

SOMETHING MOMENTOUS happened towards the end of 2019. In November, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) filed a patent infringement case against Gilead Sciences “seeking damages for Gilead’s infringement of HHS patents related to preexposure prophylaxis (or PrEP)” a medication for HIV prevention. There has been shock and awe over this historic step since the US government is not known to file lawsuits to enforce its patents.

This is significant for more reasons: PrEP is a simple way of preventing HIV infection through a pill-a-day regime. Although ignorance is one factor why people don’t take the medication, the major issue is the cost of the drug. Gilead charges more than $2,000 for a year’s supply for PrEP which is sold for less than $100 by generic drug firms elsewhere. Reports say Gilead has earned $3 billion in 2018 from the drug (marketed as Truvada and Descovy) although it does not own the patents and has been jacking up the price.

Why has the US government finally taken such a bold step given that the industry is one of the biggest and most powerful lobbyists on Capitol Hill and funds the elections of Congressional representatives? In 2016, the non-profit Centre for Responsive Politics reported the pharma industry had donated $589,344 to Hillary Clinton’s campaign. One reason is that the steep cost of new medications is something that even the US healthcare system is finding unaffordable with drug majors charging as much as $1,000 per pill for treating cancer. The other is that public health groups have been mounting tremendous pressure on the government to