Gilead, J&J Sue Apotex to Block Copies of HIV Drug Symtuza

Gilead Sciences Inc. expanded its courtroom fight to protect its franchise of HIV treatments, alleging in separate lawsuits that Apotex Inc.’s proposed copy of Symtuza infringes two patents for the four-drug combination and five other patents, including one Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen co-owns and another it licenses from Gilead.

Symtuza is a four-drug combination of darunavir, cobicistat, emtricitabine and tenofovir alafenamide.

Two of the patents are among nine listed for Symtuza in the US Food and Drug Administration’s registry of approved drugs, the Orange Book. They expire in October 2032 and July 2038, respectively—the latest expirations among Symtuza’s Orange ...