Truvada

Truvada Injury Attorneys

Despite the Heavy Costs of Truvada, Drug Makers Withheld Safer Alternatives. We’re Helping Patients Fight for Compensation.

In 2012, the scientific community saw a huge breakthrough: The drug Truvada, formerly used for HIV treatment, was also approved for HIV prevention. For people who may be exposed to HIV, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) allows sexual intimacy with a lower risk of HIV transmission. Truvada (active ingredients emtricitabine and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, also called TDF) is also used to treat Hepatitis B, another serious viral infection.

As the only PrEP drug available in the early 2000s (the patented prevented other pharmaceutical companies from making generics) and a “preferred first-line” HIV treatment, Truvada had a strong market share. This was despite its potential side effects, which include decreasing bone density and kidney disease.

Now, we know patients did not need to suffer this way. If you took Truvada and experienced life-changing side effects, we may be able to help you file a suit for compensation. Our skilled attorneys aren’t afraid to take on big pharmaceutical companies when justice for you is on the line.

The Unnecessary Risk of Truvada

Gilead Sciences, Inc., the company that created Truvada, deceived consumers in many ways when marketing the drug. Initially, it did not even come with warnings on its most serious side effects. The company was forced to update the Truvada packaging multiple times.

However, Gilead’s attempt to conceal the drug’s serious side effects wasn’t even its most egregious breach of consumer rights. A patent application showed the company had created its own competitor to Truvada, and one with a lower risk of serious side effects, at the same time. Gilead decided to wait on releasing the second drug (which used tenofovir alafenamide fumarate, or TAF) until its patent on Truvada was up. With the new, safer option available, patients were likely to switch from Truvada, meaning generics would not be able to make a play for market share.

Truvada’s Long-Term Side Effects

Whether used to treat HIV or for PrEP, patients who take Truvada are likely to need the drug for an extended time. Unfortunately, long-term use may cause serious side effects.

Decreased Bone Density

A Gilead study with over 500 participants found Truvada users saw a greater decrease in bone mineral density (BMD) than participants who were given a placebo. Affected areas were the hip, spine, femoral neck (at the top of the femur, right below the hip joint), and trochanter (the protuberance at the top of the thigh where muscles attach to the bone). The study did note that BMD levels returned to normal after patients stopped taking Truvada, but this was a relatively short-term study (1-2 years). Another study, conducted by Veteran’s Affairs, found that each year of Truvada use increases a patient’s likelihood of fractures.

Kidney Damage & Kidney Disease

Long-term use of Truvada was also linked with progressive, but slow, kidney damage by independent researchers. TDF is nephrotoxic, meaning it causes kidney function to decrease by damaging proximal tubular cells. The more these cells are damaged, the closer a patient comes to chronic kidney disease. The links between Truvada use and kidney damage were significant and easy to see. Each year on the drug caused increased risk for a patient to develop:

• A rapid decline in kidney function (by 11%)
• Chronic kidney disease (by 33%)

Unlike the damage to a patient’s BMD, the kidney damage a patient suffered did not reverse within a year of ending Truvada use.

Know Your Rights as a Truvada Patient

Not only was it unethical for Gilead to hide the side effects of Truvada and fail to offer the safer TAF drug as soon as it was possible, but it was also illegal. Our attorneys are here to help patients like you take the company to court for its inexcusable behavior. Especially because Truvada, as an HIV treatment and PrEP drug, was largely used by the gay community, Gilead’s scheme to extend its patent protections resulted in more damage to an already hurting group.

If you suffered serious side effects or complications of Truvada, we want to help you tell your story. It’s hard to say whether anyone at Gilead will feel empathy for those they’ve harmed, but at the very least, we can pursue a financial resolution that will hurt the company while helping you.

When people bravely come forward to take on Big Pharma, they become part of a larger movement to end the supply of dangerous drugs and counter pharmaceutical corporations’ dishonesty that has become far too prominent. Fighting these huge corporations may not be easy, but it is necessary. The attorneys at Shrader & Associates, L.L.P. have the skill, experience, and resources to bring a strong claim against a company like Gilead.