Bristol-Myers Squibb hits Merck with cancer patent lawsuit

Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) has accused pharmaceutical company Merck of infringing a patent covering a method used to treat cancer.

The lawsuit, filed at the US District Court for the District of Delaware, came just a day after Merck won approval from the US Food and Drug Administration for its Keytruda (pembrolizumab) immunotherapy drug; one of a new wave of cancer-treatment drugs designed to boost the patient’s immune system.

The patent asserted by BMS, US number 8,728,474, was initially granted to Ono Pharmaceutical in May and subsequently licenced to BMS.

It covers the use of anti-PD-1 antibodies to treat cancer, and, in a lawsuit filed on September 4, BMS said Merck’s patent would “threaten to exploit that innovation”.

The lawsuit asked for damages and also asked the court to declare that Merck had infringed the patent.

If the court rules in favour of BMS and Ono's argument of infringement it would boost the case that they are owed royalties on sales of PD-1 drugs.

According to news website FiercePharma, other drug companies, including AstraZeneca and Roche, have also tried to market drugs using the innovative method, which BMS said could “revolutionise” cancer treatment.

“Treating cancer using immunotherapy is a scientific breakthrough and has the potential to revolutionise cancer treatment by using a patient’s own immune system to eliminate cancer cells,” it claimed in the lawsuit.

BMS added it has put the invention of the ‘474 patent into practice by developing the “breakthrough biologic drug” nivolumab, which it described as a monoclonal antibody that recognises and binds to the PD-1 protein.

“On information and belief, Merck has known about the ‘474 patent and has known that the use of pembrolizumab will infringe claims of the ‘474 patent since at least approximately May 20, 2014,” BMS claimed.