Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

GILD—>MRK $2.54B damage award is largest-ever for a patent-infringement vase; GILD plans appeal:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-12-15/gilead-told-to-pay-merck-2-54-billion-in-hepatitis-c-royalties

Gilead Sciences Inc. was told by a federal jury to pay $2.54 billion to Merck & Co. for using a patented invention as the basis for its blockbuster drugs for the potentially deadly liver disease hepatitis C -- the biggest patent-infringement verdict in U.S. history.

The jury in Wilmington, Delaware, deliberated for less than two hours and rejected Gilead’s arguments that Merck’s patent is invalid. The judge in the case had already decided that Merck’s patent was infringed by Gilead’s Sovaldi and Harvoni, which account for more than half the drugmaker’s revenue.

The infringement also was found to be willful, meaning the judge could increase the damage award by as much as three times the amount set by the jury. The jury said on Thursday that Gilead owed 10 percent royalties on $25.4 billion in total sales for the two drugs.

Gilead pledged to appeal.

The patent, issued in 2009, is for a compound that Merck’s Idenix unit contends is the basis for all major treatments for hepatitis C, including ones made by Gilead. Sovaldi was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2013 and Harvoni got regulatory go-ahead a year later. Merck’s drug, Zepatier, was approved this year.

…This is the second trial between the two companies. The first, over different patents, ended in a disaster for Merck. A jury in California said that Gilead should pay $200 million in royalties, but that was thrown out because the judge said a key Merck witness lied [#msg-123136899].

… Gilead and Idenix have been engaged in a global fight since 2012 over who was first to invent certain compounds for treating hepatitis C. Merck had claims demanding patent royalties on sales of Sovaldi and Harvoni even before it bought Idenix in 2014, absorbing this case as part of the deal.

The case in California was Merck’s own suit against Gilead, filed in 2013… Gilead also had been engaged in a patent fight with AbbVie over ways to treat hepatitis C. The companies resolved their disputes in August.