US Supreme Court Throws Out Bristol Myers Appeal On Cancer-Drug Related Patent With Gilead

The U.S. Supreme Court turned away an appeal made by rebuffed efforts made by Bristol Myers Squibb Co's BMY Juno Therapeutics Inc to reinstate a $1.2 billion award it won in its patent fight with Gilead Sciences Inc's GILD Kite Pharma Inc over Yescarts, a lymphoma drug.
Juno and Sloan Kettering Institute for Cancer Research sued Kite in 2017 in a federal court in Los Angeles, accusing it of copying technology the institute licenses to Juno. A jury awarded the plaintiffs $778 million in damages, which a judge later increased to $1.2 billion.
But the patent-focused U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit dismissed the award last year, finding that the patent was invalid because it lacked a sufficient written description.
A Bristol Myers Squibb spokesperson said it had sought high-court review to "restore the proper balance to our innovation economy by reaffirming the existing patent statute, which requires only a 'written description of the invention' that is adequate to inform skilled workers how to make and use it."
"We will continue to work to correct this imbalance and the erroneous standard that the Federal Circuit has set," Reuters reported citing the spokesperson.
A Gilead spokesperson said the company was pleased with the Supreme Court's decision, which has "effectively ended" the dispute.
Juno told the Supreme Court in its appeal that the Federal Circuit's validity standard for patents forces biologic inventors to outline an "essentially infinite number" of potential variations in a patent.
Price Action: BMY shares are up 0.07% at $78.84 on the last check Monday.

Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Comments

Popular Channels

Tools & Features

Partners & Contributors

About Benzinga