Boston hospital awarded $10m in patent case

A Boston-based hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, has been awarded $10.2 million in royalty payments after it won a patent case against pharmaceutical company Perrigo.

The jury verdict, which was decided on Wednesday, December 14, concluded that Perrigo’s generic version of the Pepcid Complete product infringed a patent, which is now expired, owned by the hospital.

Pepcid Complete is a treatment for episodic heartburn.

The hospital made the initial complaint in September 2013 in the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

The case arose when Perrigo sought approval from the Food and Drug Administration to market the generic version of the drug.

Following the complaint, the jury found that Perrigo wilfully infringed US patent number 5,229,137, covering the treatment.