Negligence Claim Survives in Calif. Gilead HIV Drug Litigation

SAN FRANCISCO — A California appellate court has upheld a ruling denying Gilead Life Sciences Inc. summary judgment on a negligence claim in a coordinated proceeding in which plaintiffs allege the company’s HIV/AIDS drug tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) caused them to develop skeletal and kidney damage.

In the Jan. 9 opinion, the court explained that “the legal duty of a manufacturer to exercise reasonable care can, in appropriate circumstances, extend beyond the duty not to market a defective product.”

“A variety of cases demonstrate that a manufacturer’s duty of reasonable care can extend more broadly than the duty to …