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Merck wins $2.54 billion in HCV drug patent infringement suit against Gilead
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A jury in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware has ordered Gilead Sciences to pay $2.54 billion in damages for infringing upon Merck subsidiary Idenix Pharmaceuticals’ patent for methods used to develop drugs based on sofosbuvir, including Sovaldi and Harvoni, which are used to treat patients with hepatitis C virus infection.
The verdict awarded damages as compensation for infringement through August 2016, with the jury concluding that Gilead “willfully” infringed upon the patent, and thus Judge Leonard P. Stark has the discretion to potentially triple the damages award, according to a press release from Merck.
“The jury’s verdict upholds patent protections that are essential to the development of new medical treatments,” Merck said in the press release. “Given that it guarantees a period of return on investment, patent protection provides the research-based pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries with an incentive to invest in research and development.”
This patent spurred important advances in HCV treatments, which required years of research and significant investments from Idenix and its partners, and was thus “appropriately granted,” Merck said.
“Gilead respectfully disagrees with the jury’s verdict and damage award, and intends to vigorously challenge this outcome through the appeal process,” Nick Francis, from the public affairs department at Gilead, told Healio.com/Hepatology. “We remain steadfast in our opinion that Idenix’s U.S. patent is invalid, and since they made no contribution and assumed none of the risk in the discovery and development of sofosbuvir and its metabolites, do not believe they are entitled to any level of damages. This ruling does not impact on our ability to continue to make sofosbuvir, and sofosbuvir-containing products available to patients in the U.S.” – by Adam Leitenberger
Disclosure: Francis is employed by Gilead.
Editor’s note: This article was updated on Dec. 16 with a statement from Gilead.