Gilead is accused of cutting anti-competitive deals to extend profit on HIV drug 'cocktails'

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Washington Post

Business
Gilead is accused of cutting anti-competitive deals to extend profit on HIV drug ‘cocktails’

By Christopher Rowland, Business reporter focused on the health-care economy's effects on patient health, costs, and privacy
May 14 at 3:41 PM

Combination drug “cocktails” to treat HIV infection are an important part of patients’ routine, allowing them to reduce the number of pills they must take each day. But the lifesaving tablets also were the focus of anti-competitive schemes by the nation’s leading HIV drug manufacturer, Gilead Sciences, according to a consumer lawsuit filed Tuesday.

Gilead forged deals that blocked generic competition, even after Gilead’s brand patents on key medications in the combination pills expired, according to the civil antitrust lawsuit brought in U.S. District Court in San Francisco by HIV/AIDS activists and two service unions.

Combination pills are created using medicines from multiple manufacturers. Gilead’s agreements with those partner companies required that Gilead-brand versions of the HIV-fighting medication tenofovir, which prevents the virus from replicating, would remain in the pills, the lawsuit alleged, even when generic ingredients could be used at a fraction of the price.

In other words, Gilead got its most likely competitors to promise not to compete, according to the suit.
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Chris Rowland joined The Washington Post business team in 2018 after serving as the Washington bureau chief for the Boston Globe, leading coverage of two presidential elections and overseeing political enterprise reporting. He previously covered health care for the Globe in Boston. Follow https://twitter.com/PostRowland

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/gilead-is-accused-of-cutting-anti-competitive-deals-to-extend-profit-on-hiv-drug-cocktails/2019/05/14/94e79c56-75ad-11e9-bd25-c989555e7766_story.html

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Gilead is accused of cutting anti-competitive deals to extend profit on HIV drug "cocktails"

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[YOHABLO]

1. These companies are just soulless. All they care about is profit. They pay little to no taxes...

much of the research and development is done by National Institute of Health, and that's in addition to the supplementation we tack on to that. They spend more money on marketing than R&D. It's a fucking scam that has to be stopped. People ask why do we pay so much here in the U.S. for pharmaceuticals? Ask the 1000 + lobbyist sucking away at Congress in D.C.