Truvada Attorneys in Georgia

Gilead Sciences Inc, the makers of the pre-exposure prophylaxis, Truvada, are facing legal issues as a result of selling a defective product that has been correlated with bone and kidney-related health issues. The HIV drug is meant to help control and inhibit the spread of the virus but has several serious side effects that Gilead failed to warn users about.

Rest assured that the Georgia Truvada lawsuit lawyers of Onder Law Firm are fighting the good fight by providing clients with the legal support they need to earn the compensation and justice they need to recover.

If you or someone you love have used Truvada and have developed bone and/or kidney complications, the Georgia Truvada lawsuit attorneys of Onder Law Firm want to help you get the compensation you deserve. Contact us right now at (314) 310-7924 to set up your FREE legal consultation.

Painful Side Effects Caused By Truvada

At a glance, Truvada may seem like some sort of wonder drug, but the truth is and while it is great for HIV prevention, it’s caused many health complications for users who are HIV positive. The tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) component within Truvada targets reverse transcriptase, a hormone used by HIV-infected cells to replicate more HIV-infected cells.

Truvada is able to slow down – or completely stop – the hormone’s activity and stop this replication. Individuals can also use Truvada as a means to prevent infection.

To do this, however, vast amounts of TDF are required. This excess builds up in the kidneys, which can cause a bevy of complications such as:

• Chronic Kidney Disease
• Declining Kidney Function/Decreased Urination
• Acute Kidney Injury
• Acute Renal Failure
• Fanconi Syndrome
• Kidney Failure

To make matters worse, TDF has also been linked to numerous bone complications as it drains bone of the calcium it needs to stay strong. When bone density is lost, your bones become more brittle, making them more susceptible to:

• Discomfort in Extremities
• Bone Deterioration or Osteoporosis
• Bone Loss or Osteopenia
• Dental Complications (e.g. Tooth Decay and Loss)

As bone density drops, the chances of suffering a broken bone or fracture dramatically increase. Oftentimes, individuals do not realize they are suffering from bone demineralization and/or osteoporosis until they have suffered a broken bone.

Certain areas of the body are prone to breaks when an individual suffers from weakened bones, including:

• Hips
• Wrists
• Forearms
• Ribs
• Spinal vertebrae

Plaintiffs filing claims against Gilead are arguing that the company was aware of the effects of TDF as early as clinical trials. Numerous studies have shown that long term exposure to TDF can result in meaningful bone density loss.

A 2012 study – which included a sample of 56,660 patients – found that TDF exposure resulted in an 8 percent increased risk of suffering from a bone fracture. Users who had high levels of exposure to TDF faced a 16 percent increased risk of fracture.

If you believe you are suffering from bone demineralization or weakened bones as a result of using Truvada, please seek out medical attention to better understand your condition. Then, contact the experienced Georgia Truvada lawsuit attorneys of Onder Law Firm for a FREE, no-obligation consultation. Let us right the wrongs that have been done against you.

Overview of Georgia HIV Statistics

In 2016, Georgia has an estimated 51,350 individuals living with HIV, which equals to a rate of 602 people living with HIV per 100,000 population. In Georgia, out of these 51,350 individuals:

• 5 percent were African-American
• 19 percent were Hispanic/Latinx
• 9 percent were White
• 7 identified as a male
• 3 percent identified as female

In the entire state of Georgia, the following counties may have hundreds or even thousands of Truvada users placing themselves at risk of debilitating side effects:

• Burke County – 441 people were living with HIV per 100,000.
• Terrell County – 460 individuals had lived with HIV per 100,000.
• Telfair County – 552 individuals had lived with HIV per 100,000.
• Wilcox County – 680 individuals had lived with HIV per 100,000.
• Richmond County – 848 people had been living with HIV per 100,000.
• DeKalb County – 1,203 individuals were living with HIV per 100,000.
• Fulton County – 1,578 individuals had lived with HIV per 100,000.

In 2016, around 772 individuals lost their lives due to the virus, which equaled to a rate of 9 deaths per 100,000 people. The following year, 2,588 new cases of HIV were diagnosed, which equates to 30 new HIV diagnoses out of 100,000 people.

For men, there were several forms of transmission which occurred more frequently, including:

• Male-to-Male Sexual Contact (78 percent)
• Male-to-Male Sexual Contact and Injection Use (5.6 percent)
• Heterosexual Contact (9.6 percent)
• Injection Drug Use (6.2 percent)
• Other (0.6 percent)

For women, the forms of transmission primarily included:

• Heterosexual Contact (83.1 percent)
• Injection Drug Use (14.5 percent)
• Other (2.4 percent)

It should be noted that the “Other” category may come from unreported or unidentified risk factors, blood transfusions, hemophilia, perinatal exposure, or any other kind of missing or withheld data.

The Lawsuit Thus Far

Gilead has seen a lot of legal action throughout its 30 years in operation for a myriad of reasons including:

• Funneling billions in revenue into the company from federal healthcare programs.
• Paying off doctors’ yearly salaries to sell their HIV and hepatitis treatments.
• Acquiring contaminated active ingredients from unapproved sources in China.

The company is under legal fire once again for their role in shelving a safer alternative — tenofovir alafenamide fumarate (TAF) — to sell their more harmful TDF-based drugs. The idea behind this was to sell TDF medicines until their patent expired in 2015 when the company could then sell a TAF-based medication as a “new and improved” formula.

With a patent on their TDF, the company was able to charge outrageous prices for the drug. In total, Truvada has seen billions of dollars in sales. Unfortunately, the company knew about the negative side effects and marketed the product anyway, effectively putting profit over people.

That is until two individuals in California filed personal injury lawsuits against Gilead for that very reason. The lawsuit alleges that the company knew about the side effects while they manufactured Truvada and other TDF-based medicines in early 2001 and then concealed information regarding their safer alternative from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in order to secure wide profit margins.

Some of the additional TDF drugs include:

• Atripla
• Complera
• Stribild
• Viread

At the same time, a class-action lawsuit was filed so that others that have dealt with bone and kidney health complications due to Gilead’s treachery, could seek out the compensation they need.

Aside from earning the compensation you deserve, these types of lawsuits send clear messages to drug manufacturers that this type of behavior is unacceptable and will be met with fierce legal opposition. That’s why recruiting an experienced Georgia Truvada lawsuit attorney from Onder Law Firm is your best shot at getting your grievances heard while securing the maximum compensation you need to recover.

Contact the Georgia Truvada lawsuit attorneys of Onder Law Firm at (314) 310-7924 to set up your FREE legal consultation today.

About Georgia Product Liability Laws

As per Georgia product liability laws, there are four main elements that a plaintiff must prove in order to have a valid claim, including:

• The product was defective at the time the injury occurred.
• The product’s defect caused the injury or wrongful death.
• The plaintiff used the product (in this case Truvada) as it was intended to be used.
• The product was in essentially the same condition as when it left the manufacturer.

It’s also important to note that there are several deadlines as set by both the statute of limitations and statute of repose. In Georgia, individuals who have been injured by a defective product have two (2) years to file a personal injury claim relating to the defective product. However, if you did not discover your injuries until later – which is likely to be the case with Truvada users – then the clock does not begin until the date of discovery.

The statute of repose sets the deadline at 10 years, which means a consumer has a 10-year deadline to file a product liability claim.

Our Georgia pharmaceutical liability attorneys can help you better understand the laws that could potentially affect your claim.

Gilead Sciences Inc. betrayed your trust, and now it’s time to make them answer for their questionable business practices. Contact the Georgia Truvada lawsuit attorneys of Onder Law Firm at (314) 310-7924 to get started with a FREE legal consultation today.