The California Supreme Court ruled in favor of Gilead, dismissing thousands of negligence claims over tenofivor-based HIV medicines and setting a precedent limiting “duty to innovate” theories. The court, in a 6-1 decision, rejected arguments that patients would have switched sooner to safer tenofovir alafenamide (TAF) products if Gilead had not delayed. In its majority opinion, Justice Joshua Groben said imposing such liability would create “extraordinary burdens,” risk “distorting research priorities,” and potentially chill pharmaceutical innovation. The ruling ends years of litigation over older and newer Gilead PrEP and HIV treatments, reaffirming that liability for injuries caused by nondefective drugs cannot be expanded into a broad mandate to deliver alternative formulations faster.