Juno sues Kite Pharma for patent infringement

Sloan Kettering Institute for Cancer Research, based in New York, and Juno Therapeutics have filed a  complaint for declaratory judgment of patent infringement against Kite Pharma.

The case was filed yesterday, December 19, in the US District Court for the District of Delaware.

Kite has allegedly copied and is now attempting to commercialise a cancer immunotherapy which was invented and patented by Sloan Kettering. The immunotherapy uses a chimeric T cell receptor and is covered by US patent number 7,446,190, which is exclusively licensed to Juno.

Kite had previously challenged the validity of all claims of the ‘190 patent in an inter partes review in the US Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB).

In December, the PTAB upheld all the claims of the patent. It ruled that Kite did not provide strong evidence that any claim of the ‘190 patent is unpatentable.

Sloan and Juno are now suing Kite and have asked the court for a judgment in their favour, as well as a declaration that Kite’s product, called KTE-C19, infringes claims of the ‘190 patent.

The suing companies have also asked the court for a permanent injunction enjoining Kite from commercialising its product and an award of costs.