Stribild® Lawsuit – Claims, Injuries, Potential Settlements

A Stribild lawsuit is a mass tort claim against Gilead Sciences, Inc., the HIV medication’s manufacturer. Stribild contains the drug TDF, which can cause serious side effects such as kidney failure and bone fractures as well as lactic acidosis.

However, Gilead failed to warn people about these risks on the TDF drug’s warning label. Moreover, there is growing evidence that Gilead covered up a safer drug in order to maximize its profits. Stribild and other 2022 TDF lawsuits are seeking compensation for:

• Medical bills to treat these side effects,
• Anticipated medical expenses for ongoing medical care,
• Pain and suffering,
• Loss of consortium suffered by the victim’s family, and
• Professional setbacks like lost wages and reduced earning capacity.

The statute of limitations for filing a claim varies by state but is generally is two years from the injury date.

In this article, our Stribild lawyers will discuss:

• 1. What is Stribild?
• 2. What are the side effects?
  • 2.1 Kidney damage and renal failure caused by Stribild
  • 2.2 From kidney failure to lactic acidosis
  • 2.3 Stribild can cause a reduction in bone density
• 3. Are there lawsuits pending against the manufacturer?
  • 3.1 Gilead withheld a safer alternative to Stribild
  • 3.2 Gilead failed to warn people of the dangers of taking Stribild
• 4. What compensation can victims obtain?
• 5. Is there litigation against Gilead’s other HIV drugs?

1. What is Stribild?

Stribild is a brand name for an HIV treatment antiretroviral pill. This pill contains a mixture of four drugs:

1. Elvitegravir,
2. Cobicistat,
3. Emtricitabine, and
4. Tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, or TDF.

The TDF works with the elvitegravir and the emtricitabine to prevent HIV cells already in the body from multiplying and spreading. The cobicistat in Stribild prevents the body from metabolizing the elvitegravir in Stribild.

Because Stribild only prevents HIV cells from spreading, it is not a cure for HIV. Rather, it is a treatment that needs to be continued for as long as a patient is at risk of developing HIV. Many of the people who are on Stribild work with HIV-infected patients or are in intimate relationships with people who are HIV-positive or who have AIDS.

However, the TDF medication used in Stribild is very toxic. And has to be taken in high doses because not much of it is absorbed in the body.

2. What are the side effects?

Stribild comes with a host of common side effects, including:

• Skin discoloration and rash,
• Depression,
• Muscle pain,
• Nausea,
• Vivid dreams and hallucinations,
• Dizziness,
• Stomach pain and discomfort,
• Diarrhea,
• Insomnia,
• Headache,
• Breathing problems, and
• Fatigue.

Stribild has also been known to cause some far more severe side effects, as well:

• Kidney problems, including acute kidney injury and acute renal failure,¹
• Lactic acidosis, or the accumulation of lactic acid in the blood,² and
• A decrease in bone mineral density that can lead to osteopenia, osteoporosis, broken bones, and other bone injuries and bone problems.³

Each of these severe side effects can post a significant impact on an HIV patient’s quality of life. In some cases, they can even be fatal.

2.1. Kidney damage and renal failure caused by Stribild

Most of the TDF in Stribild does not get absorbed in the body. Instead, it passes through the kidneys on its way out of the organ. The toxicity of the drug can cause substantial kidney damage. Because Stribild is a long-term treatment for HIV rather than a cure, the kidney damage it causes builds up over time.

One study monitored the kidney health of 10,841 people in the San Francisco area with HIV. All of them were taking a TDF drug to treat their condition. One thing the study monitored was whether there were abnormal protein levels in their urine – a telltale sign of Fanconi Syndrome (where impaired kidney tubule function affects the urine’s chemical makeup – which can then lead to kidney damage).

After controlling for factors like age and health, the study found that there is a 34 percent increase in signs of kidney damage for every year the patient was taking a TDF drug. Additionally, there was a 33 percent increase in developing chronic kidney disease and an 11 percent increase in a sudden and rapid loss of kidney function.⁴

As the kidney damage gets worse, it can lead to renal failure – a potentially lethal medical condition.

2.2. From kidney failure to lactic acidosis

One of the worst complications of kidney failure caused by Stribild is lactic acidosis.

Because the kidneys are responsible for controlling the body’s lactic acid, reduced kidney performance can lead to lactate accumulating in the blood. If enough lactic acid builds up, it can alter the acidity of the entire bloodstream, lowering its pH level. As the blood becomes more acidic, it can cause medical complications throughout the rest of the body. Some of them, like organ failure, can be fatal.

2.3. Stribild can cause a reduction in bone density

The toxicity of the TDF in Stribild is also a problem for a patient’s bone structure. When combined with the usual effects that the HIV virus has on a victim’s bone density, Stribild can lower bone mass significantly. Because Stribild is a permanent treatment, the effect that the TDF has on a victim’s bone density accumulates over time.

As the bone density decreases, the risks of breaking or fracturing a bone increase accordingly. Stribild can lower bone mass so much that the density could fall below the level of osteoporosis, a medical condition typically seen only in the elderly.

3. Are there lawsuits pending against the manufacturer?

Thousands of lawsuits have been filed against Gilead Sciences, Inc. for the side effects of Stribild and other TDF meds. These lawsuits claim that victims are entitled to compensation because Gilead did two things:

1. They developed a safer drug than Stribild, but kept it off the market to maximize company profits, and
2. They failed to warn doctors and patients about the risks of Stribild.

Some victims in California have joined together to file a class action lawsuit against Gilead.⁵ But most 2022 Complera lawsuits are proceeding through the court system individually.⁶ Because these lawsuits involve victims with similar injuries, they are presently being consolidated into an MDL (multidistrict litigation) out of the Northern District of California (federal court).

An MDL is where similar lawsuits are joined together to expedite litigation and a settlement. The case name is In Re. Tenofovir Disoproxil Fumarate Products Liability Litigation, MDL 2881.

Eventually, the judge will allow a few cases to go to trial, called bellwether trials. How they turn out will set the stage for negotiations with the remaining thousands of plaintiffs. The first bellwether trial is scheduled for June of 2022.

3.1. Gilead withheld a safer alternative to Stribild

Gilead first began releasing its TDF-based HIV treatment pills in 2001.⁷ According to the lawsuits, Gilead was already developing another drug, tenofovir alafenamide fumarate (TAF), at that point. Research into TAF showed that TAF was absorbed at higher rates in the body than TDF. This meant TAF had the same effect as TDF but at much lower doses, reducing the dangers of its toxicity.⁸

But Gilead’s TDF-based drugs were just being released and still had years of market protection from generic alternatives. They were also dominating the HIV treatment market. Gilead realized that they could continue to make billions of dollars each year on their TDF drugs until their market protection expired, and then release its TAF-based drugs to get a whole new period of market protection from generics. In 2004, Gilead patented its formula for TAF, announced that it would stop the development of TAF, and then hid all of the medical studies that it had conducted about the drug.⁹

Then in 2010 when the market protections for TDF-based HIV drugs were expiring, Gilead released the medical studies that it had done years earlier showing that TDF could cause osteoporosis, broken bones, kidney damage and failure, and lactic acidosis – making it a very dangerous drug to take. But its new breakthrough TAF drugs drastically reduced those risks, so patients should switch to the new drug right away.¹⁰

The lawsuits claim that Gilead should be held accountable for injuries suffered by people taking Stribild during the time between Gilead’s development of TAF-drugs and its release of them to the public.

3.2. Gilead failed to warn people of the dangers of taking Stribild

Drug companies have a legal duty to disclose the known risks and side effects of their products. The law requires these disclosures because it understands that doctors need them to write prescriptions and because patients use them to make informed healthcare decisions.

Victims filing Stribild lawsuits claim that Gilead failed to uphold this legal duty to warn. They claim that Gilead knew of the risks of Stribild and other TDF-based HIV drugs, and point to much of the same evidence that supports their claim that Gilead withheld a safer HIV drug.

Throughout Stribild’s time on the market, Gilead representatives had claimed that it was “risk-free” and posed no threat to kidney health or bone density.¹¹ Not only was the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reprimanding Gilead for these claims; Gilead had known of TDF’s risks through its research and development of TAF. This research and development had showed the absorption rates of the two drugs and the much higher risks of TDF. In fact, Gilead had begun emphasizing those risks as soon as it announced its discovery and subsequent release of TAF-based HIV drugs.¹²

Stribild lawsuits claim that Gilead caused victims to suffer dreadful injuries by withholding information on the risks of TDF.

4. What compensation can victims obtain?

2022 Stribild lawsuit plaintiffs are seeking compensation for the:

• Medical expenses they have already accumulated,
• Medical bills they are likely to accrue in the future as they recover,
• Wages they have lost during their recovery from Stribild’s side effects,
• Reduced earning capacity from the health effects of Stribild’s side effects,
• Physical pain and emotional and mental suffering of those side effects, and
• Loss of companionship suffered by the victim’s family and loved ones.

Many lawsuits also demand punitive damages to punish Gilead for its egregious conduct in withholding a safer drug from the market.¹³

5. Is there litigation against Gilead’s other HIV drugs?

Yes. In addition to Stribild, the pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences, Inc. has also produced other HIV drugs that contain TDF and cause the same serious side effects. The TDF MDL involves all these medications, which are:

• Cimduo
• Atripla
• Truvada
• Complera
• Symfi-Lo
• Viread

The HIV drugs that Gilead has released more recently have been based on TAF, rather than TDF. While TAF is likely a safer alternative, it can still cause major side effects. Gilead’s TAF-based line of HIV medication includes:

• Genvoya, the TAF-based pill that Gilead has urged Stribild users to switch to, and which has spawned its own set of Genvoya lawsuits,
• Descovy,
• Vemlidy, and
• Odefsey.

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