Swiss big pharma settles patent dispute with Insulet
The dispute over a patent covering a blood glucose level monitor ends with a multimillion-dollar payment and a licence agreement.
Roche has ended its patent dispute with Insulet Corporation, with the latter paying $20 million in settlement.
Insulet announced the settlement with Roche’s subsidiary Roche Diabetes Care on Friday, July 7, noting that following the payment of the settlement payment, the parties will move to dismiss Roche’s pending lawsuit.
In exchange for the payment, Roche has agreed not to sue Insulet for five years and will provide a licence to the patent-in-suit.
Roche, in June 2020, accused the medical device company of infringing a patent covering a blood glucose level monitor.
In its suit, filed at the US District Court for the District of Delaware, Roche claimed that Insulet had infringed US patent number 7,931,613, through the sale of its Omnipod insulin management system.
Insulet’s Omnipod system is made up of two parts: the pod, which delivers insulin to your body, and the personal diabetes manager, which allows you to control the pod.
Meanwhile, Roche provides glucose monitoring, insulin delivery systems, and digital solutions for diabetes management under its brands RocheDiabetes, Accu-Chek, and mySugr.
At the time of filing its suit, Roche claimed: “Insulet knew of and/or was willfully blind to the ‘613 patent and Insulet’s infringement was knowing and willful. Insulet and Roche are and were sophisticated parties and competitors in the diabetes management market and, on information and belief, Insulet identified, monitored, investigated, and assessed its competitors’ patents, including the ‘613 patent.”
The Delaware court had set July 25, 2022 as the trial date.
In July last year, the English High Court cleared Roche of patent infringement claims over its line of insulin pumps but shot down the company’s attempt to invalidate Insulet’s UK patent (UK1,335,764) which covers a “device and system for patient infusion”.
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