Gilead Sciences lost another attempt to invalidate patents owned by HHS for using its Truvada pill to prevent HIV, STAT reported.
The Patent Trial and Appeals Board ruled Feb. 20 that Gilead failed to demonstrate it was likely to win its argument to overturn the patents.
HHS owns four intellectual property patents for PrEP, the use of antiretroviral drugs to keep HIV negative people from becoming infected.
Gilead claims the patents should be invalidated because other researchers came up with the idea to use antiretroviral drugs to prevent HIV before the CDC claims it did.
Earlier this month, the Patent Trial and Appeals Board refused Gilead's request to invalidate two of the patents, and the board has now refused the drugmaker's request to invalidate the other two.
The legal battle will now go to federal court in Delaware, where HHS filed a lawsuit claiming Gilead infringed on the patents and refused to reach a licensing deal, according to STAT.
AIDS activists have argued the government should collect royalties on Truvada and use that money to fund HIV prevention and treatment services.
Gilead told STAT: "Gilead continues to believe all four HHS PrEP patents are invalid and should not have been granted" and "also believes the government breached its contractual obligations to inform Gilead of any attempt to secure patents on work derived from use of materials and information Gilead provided to the government."
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