The nationwide TDF litigations involve the drugmaker, Gilead Sciences, Inc., and its medications used to treat or prevent HIV. These types of high-stakes pharmaceutical litigations naturally lend themselves to shaping the law, as thousands of plaintiffs’ firms, a well-funded defense, and a deep amicus bench, generally leave no appellate stone unturned—and these cases are no exception.

As one would expect, Gilead has invoked the manifold intricate protections afforded to pharmaceutical companies in that highly regulated industry, as well as traditional product liability defenses. However, the vast majority of the over 26,000 claimants took a page out of old-school hornbook law, skipping the usual failure-to-warn fanfare and instead leading their charge with straightforward negligence claims (alongside negligent design defect and merchantability claims). As the numerous state and federal litigations are finally poised for trials, the stakes loom large with Gilead claiming that the plaintiffs will force a full-scale reimagining of standards of liability for manufacturers, and the plaintiffs countering that Gilead has a basic duty to act reasonably just like everyone else.