Attorney General Balderas Files Suit Against Manufacturers of Antiretroviral HIV/AIDS Treatment Drugs

For Immediate Release:
February 25, 2021
Contact: Matt Baca — (505) 270-7148

Santa Fe, NM—Attorney General Balderas today filed a lawsuit in the First Judicial
District Court of New Mexico against Gilead Sciences, Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb,
Gilead Sciences, LLC, and Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc., for violating the New
Mexico Antitrust Act and New Mexico Unfair Practices Act. The lawsuit stems from the
development, marketing, and manufacturing of several antiretroviral medications used
in the prevention and treatment of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (“HIV”) – a disease
which, if left untreated, destroys the immune system and leads to Acquired
Immunodeficiency Syndrome (“AIDS”). The antiretroviral medications at issue include
VIREAD®, TRUVADA®, ATRIPLA®, VEMLIDY®, and DESCOVY®.
“Putting profits over the critical needs of New Mexican patients and risking their health
and safety is unacceptable,” said Attorney General Balderas. “My office will hold anyone
accountable who takes advantage of or harms our families.”
The lawsuit alleges that the defendants engaged in coordinated schemes and anticompetitive agreements to suppress the entry of cheaper generic versions of each drug
into the market, and to delay the development of safer, more effective treatment drugs
in order to maintain a stranglehold on the market for antiretroviral treatment. The
defendants’ schemes resulted in vastly inflated prices for these lifesaving drugs, and
hundreds of millions of dollars in anticompetitive profits to the defendants. These profits
came at the expense of government payors like the State of New Mexico, and patients
living with HIV.