Gilead Can’t Fend Off Antitrust Suit Over HIV Drug Pricing (3)

Gilead Sciences Inc. and other drugmakers failed to extinguish an antitrust lawsuit accusing them of using tactics to artificially raise prices of critical HIV drugs.

A ruling by U.S. District Judge Edward Chen that was unsealed on Wednesday slightly narrowed the antitrust claims brought by six AIDS activists against the drug companies, including Bristol-Myers Squibb and Johnson & Johnson unit Janssen. But the drug companies still face claims over their pricing of HIV treatments, including Atripla, Truvada and Complera.

The dispute could have wider ramifications for the pharmaceutical industry and the debate over sky-rocketing drug prices. Gilead’s U.S. sales of ...