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12 February 2019Americas

Roche agrees to pay $21m to settle Enzo infringement suit

Swiss pharmaceutical company  Roche Diagnostics has agreed to pay $21 million as part of a settlement to a patent infringement case with New York-based  Enzo Biochem.

The settlement comes after a long-running legal battle between the two companies in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. The case initially began with an infringement suit brought by Roche in 2004.

Enzo counterclaimed, accusing Roche of breaking a 1994 distribution agreement relating to products used in nucleic acid labelling and testing, and infringing Enzo’s patent for the products.

The court denied a motion for summary judgment on the patent claims in favour of Roche in 2013. As the distribution agreement between the two companies was “ambiguous”, the court said, it could not dismiss Enzo’s claims of infringement regarding Roche’s use of the patented products.

Details of the settlement were outlined in a  report to the US Securities Exchange Commission filed by Enzo on February 5.

Under the terms of the deal, Roche agreed to pay $19,425,000 to Enzo in addition to a $1,575,000 payment to law firm Greenberg Traurig, which represented Enzo in the case.

According to the SEC filing, the settlement has no bearing on Enzo’s patent infringement action against Roche in the US District Court for the District of Delaware, which remains pending on appeal.

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23 April 2019   Enzo Life Sciences has entered into a settlement and licensing agreement with pharmaceutical companies Hologic and Grifols, ending a patent dispute between the parties.