Opinion: Gilead's short-term win threatens the future of pharmaceutical public-private partnerships

On Dec. 19, 2024, we joined other professors of law, medicine, and public health to file an amicus brief in support of the U.S. government in the government’s landmark patent lawsuit against leading HIV drugmaker Gilead Sciences Inc.

On Jan. 15, 2025, the U.S. government and Gilead announced a settlement of the suit that — at least based on what’s been made public — allows Gilead to expropriate publicly funded, publicly owned patents essentially without recourse. Unless the Department of Health and Human Services commits to asserting its patent rights vigorously in the future on behalf of the public, this settlement could disturb the model of public-private partnership that sustains many of the United States’ most important medical breakthroughs. Gilead’s short-term win could come at massive cost to the future of pharmaceutical innovation and to the health of the American public.

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