California: Class action filed against Gilead Sciences for death and injury by remdesivir
To make matters worse, patients were injected with remdesivir without being asked for their informed consent. Informed consent was even denied for those who asked for it.
By Rhoda Wilson
September 30, 2023
A ground-breaking class action lawsuit was filed on Wednesday in a California superior court against Gilead Sciences for people injured or killed by remdesivir.
The complaint alleges violations of consumer protection laws, false advertising, deceptive promotion, negligent misrepresentation, and other charges related to the marketing and administration of remdesivir, also known as Veklury.
And “seeks restitution, injunctive relief, disgorgement (return of all profits made by Gilead from the sale of remdesivir), and other relief for Gilead’s alleged wrongdoing that resulted in countless personal injuries and wrongful deaths,” a statement released on Wednesday said.
The nationwide syndicate of health and freedom lawyers, in cooperation with FormerFedsGroup Freedom Foundation (“FFFF”) filed the complaint on behalf of potentially 100,000 relatives who have tragically lost loved ones and former patients who have suffered grievous injuries due to hospital treatment protocols.
The FFFF’s Humanity Betrayal Memory Project contains over a thousand testimonials of hospital mistreatment. Sadly, the overwhelming majority of these stories follow a common pattern, and virtually all include the administration of remdesivir, which, after a horrific experience, culminates in permanent injury or death. Moreover, in numerous distressing instances, these treatments were administered without informed consent.
Every week, FFFF online victim support groups share heart-wrenching stories; pleading for justice and seeking accountability. Their voices, combined with the meticulously documented Memory Project eyewitness accounts, are overwhelming. Consequently, this is not simply a matter of legal representation, but a voice for those who feel unheard and marginalised. It is about acknowledging the countless victims and ensuring they are respected and advocated for; as well as, exposing injustice, educating the public, and putting a stop to any further injuries and deaths.
All the FFFF’s testimonies can be accessed at either https://formerfedsgroup.org/cases or
https://chbmp.org/
. One must completely absorb these narratives to fully grasp the gravity of their content. Unfortunately, the heroic efforts of FFFF have been met with resistance and suppression, further adding to the emotional strife and harm to the plaintiffs.
Class Action Complaint Filed Against Gilead Sciences, Inc. Over Remdesivir Alleges False Advertising and Negligence, Attorney’s Press Release, 27 September 2023
You can read the 40-page complaint document on the law firm Myer and Scher’s website HERE.
Background
Gilead Sciences produced and marketed remdesivir as a treatment for covid. Lezdo Techmed noted that in early October 2020, Gilead Sciences made a pact with the European Union to distribute remdesivir as a treatment. The deal was worth more than EUR1 billion for six month’s supply of the drug.
On 1 May 2020, the US Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) issued an emergency use authorisation (“EUA”) that authorised Veklury (remdesivir) for the treatment of hospitalised adult and paediatric patients with severe covid. At the end of August 2020, the FDA broadened the scope of the EUA to include treatment of all hospitalised adult and paediatric patients with suspected or laboratory-confirmed covid, irrespective of the severity of the disease.
Towards the end of October 2020, the FDA granted remdesivir full approval for use in adult and paediatric patients 12 years of age and older and weighing at least 40 kilograms for the treatment of covid requiring hospitalisation. At the same time, to ensure continued access to the paediatric population previously covered under the EUA, “the FDA revised the EUA for Veklury [remdesivir] to authorise the drug’s use for treatment of suspected or laboratory-confirmed covid-19 in hospitalised paediatric patients.” Between the approval and the EUA, the FDA allowed, and still allows, remdesivir as a treatment of covid in adults and paediatric patients aged ≥28 days and weighing ≥3 kg.
The EU and US decisions in October 2020 paved the way for Gilead’s drug into two major markets, both with “soaring covid cases.” But both the deal with the EU and the FDA’s granting of an EUA baffled scientists who had closely watched the clinical trials of remdesivir unfold over the previous 6 months. Not least of all, the World Health Organisation’s trial published on 15 October 2020 that found remdesivir neither reduced the risk of death nor reduced the recovery time from illness.
Further reading: The ‘very, very bad look’ of remdesivir, the first FDA-approved Covid-19 drug, Science, 28 October 2020
But people were told that “remdesivir saves lives.”
To make matters worse, patients were injected with remdesivir without being asked for their informed consent. Informed consent was even denied for those who asked for it.
Further reading:
Remdesivir Causes Renal Failure, Hospital Protocols Are Killing People, The Exposé, 2 September 2021
Most covid-19 deaths were a direct result of the administration of midazolam or remdesivir, The Exposé, 11 October 2021
Remdesivir estimated to have killed 100,000 Americans, The Exposé, 15 March 2023
Previous Legal Cases Against Hospitals and Doctors
In September 2022, two women in California filed lawsuits seeking justice for the death of their husbands. The lawsuits claim that doctors at Inland Empire hospitals were negligent in not informing them of the toxicity of remdesivir before their husbands were given the drug.
Lawsuits filed against Kaiser Permanente Riverside Medical Centre and Redlands Community Hospital, as well as several of their physicians, state that doctors committed fraud by prescribing remdesivir to their victims without their knowledge or consent. Additionally, doctors failed to explain that the drug is ineffective in treating covid-19, is toxic to the kidneys and can result in death.
These are not the only lawsuits that have been filed. But all these lawsuits are against medical facilities and doctors. None of them accused remdesivir’s manufacturer, Gilead Sciences.
Further reading: Emerging remdesivir lawsuits – Remnants of the Pandemic, Lezdo Techmed, 29 July 2023
Previous Legal Case Against Gilead Sciences
A product liability lawsuit was filed against Gilead Sciences and St. Joseph Mercy Chelsea Hospital in the Eastern District Court of Michigan. It was transferred to the federal court. The case was filed on behalf of Daniel Nowacki, Kathleen Nowacki and Mark Nowacki. According to the lawsuit, Mark suffered injuries as a result of receiving remdesivir, an antiviral medication that Gilead recalled because it was contaminated with glass particles. Around 55,000 doses of remdesivir were affected by the recall.
In August 2023, the judge ruled that the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act does not shield a drug manufacturer and a hospital from liability in the case of the Nowacki family as it involved intentional misconduct. While this ruling is not a legally binding precedent, it established a precedent for potential future lawsuits against Gilead Sciences concerning injuries that could be sustained by people who were administered the drug.
Further reading: Shocking Ruling On remdesivir – Manufacturer and Hospital Not Protected by Law, Great Game India, 12 August 2023