The CDC owns four patents for PrEP, which is the use of antiretroviral drugs to keep HIV negative people from becoming infected.
Gilead claims the patents should be invalidated because other researchers came up with the idea of using antiretroviral drugs to prevent HIV before the CDC claims it did.
Gilead’s drug, Truvada, is a PrEP drug, so the CDC sued Gilead, claiming it is owed royalties on Truvada because of its patents.
In response, Gilead asked the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to review the CDC’s patents to determine if they’re valid.
The Patent Trial and Appeals Board ruled Feb. 5 that Gilead failed to demonstrate that it was likely to win its argument for overturning the CDC’s patents, STAT reported.
Gilead subsequently released a statement saying the ruling doesn’t mean the board agreed that the patents are valid, just that the evidence Gilead was allowed to present wasn’t enough to prove the patents weren’t valid.
AIDS activists reportedly applauded the ruling, arguing Gilead should have to pay the government royalties. Activists have claimed that Gilead exploited the government to charge unnecessarily high prices for Truvada, and the government should use royalty money from Gilead to fund HIV prevention and treatment services, according to STAT.
Read the full article here.
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