Texas court awards $41m to US biotech
Japan-based pharma company must pay for infringment | Drug was recently approved for breast cancer treatment by EU.
The US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas has awarded $41.8 million in damages after concluding that Japan-headquartered Daiichi Sankyo willfully infringed biotech Seagen’s patent.
In a ruling handed down Tuesday, July 19, District Judge Rodney Gilstrap affirmed the $41.8 million in damages awarded by a jury in April, but refused to increase the award.
“Notwithstanding the jury’s finding of willfulness, the court having considered the totality of the circumstances together with the material benefit of having presided throughout the jury trial and having seen the same evidence and heard the same arguments as the jury, and mindful that enhancement is generally reserved for ‘egregious cases of culpable behaviour’, concludes that enhancement of the compensatory award herein is not warranted,” said Gilstrap.
Back in October 2020, Seagen accused Daiichi Sankyo of infringing its patent through the sale of cancer drug Enhertu (Trastuzumab deruxtecan), which was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in December 2019.
According to the claim, Daiichi Sankyo was infringing the US company’s proprietary technology which enables the delivery of chemotherapeutic drugs directly to tumour cells. Seagen’s patent—US number 10,808,039—covers what the company calls its “pioneering innovations” in the field of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs).
The product is made by Daiichi and marketed by AstraZeneca, which intervened in the dispute as a defendant in July 2021.
In April this year, a Texas jury concluded that Daiichi Sankyo had willfully infringed the patent and Daiichi and AstraZeneca had not shown that any of the asserted claims were valid, so Daiichi owed Seagen $41.8 million in royalties.
This week’s decision did not address whether to award a running royalty on future sales of Enhertu until the expiry of the ‘039 patent in 2024.
Daiichi Sankyo said it would “continue to vigorously defend its rights and explore available post-trial motions and remedies to contest the judgment and damages awarded to Seagen”.
Earlier this week, Enhertu was approved in the EU for treating an aggressive form of breast cancer.
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