Philadelphia Truvada Lawsuits

In the early 2000s, people living with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) finally found hope when a medication called Truvada hit the market and promised to help reduce the growth and spread of the virus. Many of these individuals had put their faith into Gilead Sciences, Inc., the pharmaceutical company that created the drug, only to be betrayed by a company more focused on profits than people.

And now, many are coming forward with their medical records in hand detailing the bone and kidney complications Truvada has caused them and are looking for answers.

Experienced defective drug attorneys are helping these victims find the easiest path to compensation. The Philadelphia Truvada lawsuit attorneys of Onder Law Firm, however, are looking to right a most grievous wrong committed by a company that couldn’t care less about the consequences.

Our experienced Truvada lawsuit attorneys want to bring you justice in the form of financial compensation. If you or someone you love is living with HIV and suffered bone and kidney complications because of Truvada use, contact us at (314) 310-7924 for your FREE case review today.

What Is Truvada?

Truvada was created by Gilead Sciences Inc. back in 2001 as a solution to help those living with HIV reduce the growth and spread of the virus. The drug was able to achieve this with the combination of active ingredients it utilizes like tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF), emtricitabine (FTC), and nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs).

This arsenal of active ingredients helps reduce the replication of HIV-infected cells in Truvada users by reducing the activity of the enzyme that the virus uses called reverse transcriptase. But one ingredient, in particular, has been recently shown to cause debilitating side effects – unbeknownst to Gilead’s consumers.

And Gilead profited handsomely from their defective drug, with profits totaling to around $11 billion annually. Since they secured the patent on their drugs, they were able to charge exorbitant prices for Truvada, and many Medicaid programs helped to cover the associated costs in order to distribute it to those who needed the medication. The drug could sometimes cost upwards of $2,000 per month for those without insurance.

The Symptoms and Side Effects of Prolonged Truvada Use

Tenofovir DF medications promise a lot. The excessive amounts of TDF within Truvada may do wonders in suppressing the activity of the enzyme reverse transcriptase, but it does immense amounts of damage to the user’s body, especially if the user already suffers from preexisting kidney and bone complications.

Tenofovir DF drains bones of their calcium and other minerals that are responsible for keeping them strong in a process called bone demineralization. In time, this causes the user’s bones to become rather brittle and if untreated can cause any—or all—of the following:

Bone fractures
Osteopenia
Osteoporosis

Users may experience symptoms from any of the above such as:

Bone fractures
Bone density loss
Bone mineral loss
Extreme discomfort
Muscle pain
Worsening bone pain

Additionally, TDF can cause the kidneys to overproduce serum creatinine, one of the first signs of chronic kidney disease. With prolonged Truvada use and time, users may begin to develop:

Abnormal protein levels
Acute kidney injury
Fanconi’s syndrome
Low kidney function
Tubular dysfunction
Renal failure

Symptoms of any of the above may be signaled by any of the following as well:

Anemia
Bruising
Changes in skin color
Confusion
Difficulty breathing
Fatigue
Inability to urinate
Muscle cramps
Nausea
Swelling
Vomiting
Weakness

If you or someone you love who lives with HIV, used Truvada for quite some time, and have developed any of the above side effects or symptoms, you may be eligible to file a product liability claim in order to get the compensation you need to properly recover.

Contact Onder Law Firm right now at (314) 310-7924 for unmatched legal representation in your Truvada lawsuit.

Overview of Philadelphia HIV Facts and Statistics

The prolonged use of Truvada can pose a real risk to the 19,147 people that are living with HIV in Philadelphia. As of 2017, the demographic breakdown of those living with HIV in Philadelphia is as follows:

9 percent African American
4 percent Hispanic/Latinx
3 percent Caucasian
72 percent male
28 percent female

Speak with your doctor about what treatments or possible replacements for Truvada that can be used in order to keep the spread or growth of HIV from occurring, especially if you are a person living with HIV, are taking the drug, and live in any of these zip codes:

19123 – 2,489 people living with the virus per 100,000.
19132 – 2,941 individuals living with the virus per 100,000.
19133 – 2,974 people living with HIV per 100,000.
19136 – 3,389 people living with HIV per 100,000.
19107 – 3,947 individuals living with HIV per 100,000.

New HIV diagnoses in Philadelphia in 2017 were around 496. Some of the most common factors of contraction in men include:

3 percent – Male-to-male sexual contact
7 percent – Heterosexual contact
5 percent – Injection drug use
1 percent – Male-to-male and injection drug use

For women:

3 percent – Heterosexual contact
4 percent – Other (blood transfusions, perinatal exposure, hemophilia, other unidentified or unreported instances)
3 percent – Injection drug use

Sadly, 284 individuals living with HIV perished due to the complications it causes.

An Ongoing Lawsuit Launched Against Gilead

Recently, two men from California filed personal injury lawsuits against Gilead for the injuries they had sustained due to Truvada use. The men claimed that the company not only failed to relay information regarding the negative side effects to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and to their consumers, but also withheld a safer alternative to their toxic TDF-based drugs.

In 2001, Gilead created TDF alongside another active ingredient called tenofovir alafenamide fumarate (TAF), a drug that proved to be just as effective as TDF but taken at smaller doses that made it all around safer to use. Gilead shelved TAF in order to sell TDF-based medications until its patent lapsed in 2015. This move would prove to be lucrative for the company, despite the company have some awareness of just how bad the injuries their TDF drugs could cause.

In order to help other users of Truvada secure justice and recovery, the two men began a class action lawsuit. Class action lawsuits send powerful messages to pharmaceutical companies like Gilead Sciences, Inc. It relays to them that questionable business practices are unacceptable and will be met in court.

In order to obtain the peace and financial recovery that is owed to you, you need an experienced Truvada lawsuit lawyer from Onder Law Firm. Our dedicated lawyers will fight tooth and nail until Gilead relents and gives you the compensation you deserve.

It’s time to collect. Let the experienced Philadelphia Truvada lawsuit attorneys of Onder Law Firm fight for your rights to compensation. Contact us at (314) 310-7924 for a FREE case evaluation.

How Onder Law Firm Can Help

With compassion, dedication, and professionalism you can count on, the Philadelphia Truvada lawsuit attorneys of Onder Law Firm can deliver the attention that your case’s demands. With over $3 billion in verdicts and settlements won, you can rest assured that our attorneys know how to bring these pharmaceutical companies to justice while you focus on recuperating from the injuries they inflicted upon you.

What makes us so effective is in our legal process. Our attorneys are meticulous at ironing out the details of the circumstances that led up to your injury. To do so, they must consider where your Truvada injury lies within the following three categories of product liability law:

Defective Design – This focuses on the product’s design that caused the injury. It seeks to answer if the product was inherently defective by design.
Defective Manufacturing – This focuses on the manufacturing process, analyzing if or when the product deviated from its original design or intended use. This category doesn’t analyze what negligence the company may have caused.
Failure to Warn Defect – This focuses on whether or not the manufacturer provided cautionary information (e.g. instructions, warnings, warranties, etc.), and if they failed to do so, they could be held liable.

As the types of bone and kidney injuries vary, so to does the compensation that you may be eligible to receive should you win your claim. With the right product liability lawyer, you can expect to receive compensation meant to cover:

Medical Bills (past, present, and future)
Pain and Suffering
Lost Wages (past, present, and future)
Loss of Earning Capacity
Loss of Quality of Life
Loss of Consortium
Emotional Damages
Wrongful Death Damages