Gilead HIV Drug Case Gets California Supreme Court Look (1)

California’s top court agreed Wednesday to consider the viability of a groundbreaking liability theory used by thousands of plaintiffs against Gilead Sciences Inc. over its HIV medications.

The California Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case brought by more than 24,000 plaintiffs against the drugmaker. The claims depart from prior design defect arguments by alleging that the company’s delays in developing a new, safer HIV drug harmed them, according to a Wednesday docket filing.

A panel of judges in California’s First District Court of Appeal wrote in a published January opinion that no California case has overtly considered ...