What We're Reading: Gilead Challenges PrEP Patents; Opioid Addiction Treatment Use; NIH to Share Genetic Data

Gilead Challenges Federal Patents for PrEP

Opioid Treatment Used Significantly More in Expansion States

NIH Will Share Genetic Data With Study Participants

In the latest move in the dispute over patents for the HIV prevention pill Truvada, Gilead Sciences is challenging US government patents on the pill. According to the drug maker, the government’s claim to have invented the pill for HIV prevention is invalid, reported The Washington Post. The company on Wednesday filed a petition with the US Patent and Trademark Office seeking a reexamination of the patents, claiming that the concept of Truvada for HIV prevention was widely known several years before the government’s application. HHS declined to comment on the matter.A medication used to treat opioid addiction is used substantially more in states that have expanded Medicaid, according to a new report from The Urban Institute, which found that these states have seen a much bigger increase in prescriptions for the medication. The number of Medicaid-covered prescriptions for buprenorphine increased 5-fold nationally between 2011 and 2018, adding to the evidence that the Affordable Care Act is playing a significant role in addressing the opioid epidemic, reported The New York Times.The National Institutes of Health (NIH) will soon begin sharing the genetic analyses of nearly 200,000 people who have participated in the “All of Us” precision medicine project. The data will offer participants a deeper look into their ancestry and genetic traits and their genetic predisposition to certain diseases. Participants may also receive information on genetic factors that could impact the effectiveness of prescription drugs. According to STAT News, to date, no government study has returned individualized genetic data to participants.