Novartis hit with $178 million verdict in cancer drug patent dispute

Comments · 496 Views

Novartis hit with $178 million verdict in cancer drug patent dispute

Novartis hit with $178 million verdict in cancer drug patent dispute

A California federal jury found Thursday that Novartis Pharmaceuticals infringed two patents owned by Daiichi Sankyo's Plexxikon Inc with its cancer drug Tafinlar and awarded Plexxikon $178 million in damages.To get more novartis news, you can visit shine news official website.

Plexxikon sued Novartis in 2017, alleging the company infringed two patents related to its melanoma drug Zelboraf, which inhibits the growth of cancer cells that have a mutated form of a certain gene.

"We are delighted with the verdict and the vindication that Plexxikon made groundbreaking innovations that have made a difference in the lives of cancer patients," Plexxikon's attorney Daralyn Durie of Durie Tangri said in an email.

Durie also said that the judge would impose a royalty on Novartis going forward, and may increase the award based on the jury's finding that the infringement was willful.

Plexxikon's CEO Chao Zhang said in a statement he was "gratified" that the jury affirmed the patents' validity "so that we can continue discovering and developing innovative new drugs for patients in need."

A Novartis spokesperson acknowledged the verdict and said in a statement that the company was considering an appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Novartis attorney Thomas Steindler of McDermott Will Emery didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Novartis' Tafinlar was developed by GlaxoSmithKline and acquired by Novartis in a 2015 asset swap. The complaint said that GSK developed Tafinlar -- which allegedly works in the same way as Zelboraf -- from confidential information it acquired from Plexxikon during licensing discussions.Novartis had argued that the patents were invalid for several reasons, including because they were preceded by three GSK compounds. The jury found Novartis hadn't proved that the patents were invalid.

Novartis sold over $1.5 billion of Tafinlar last fiscal year, according to a company report. Plexxikon's complaint said it had sold over $1.5 billion of Zelboraf at the time.

Comments