In a reversal of fortunes, a federal judge overturned a jury verdict ordering Gilead Sciences (GILD) to pay $2.54 billion to Merck (MRK) for infringing a patent in order to develop a pair of blockbuster hepatitis C treatments.
In a 52-page opinion, U.S. District Court Judge Leonard Stark ruled late Friday that a Merck patent at issue was invalid, because the inventions did not meet a requirement for disclosing how to make and use the treatment it covered without undue experimentation.
The verdict, which was largest ever in a U.S. patent case, stemmed from a long-running dispute concerning the Sovaldi and Harvoni hepatitis C pills, which revolutionized treatment, helped spark a national debate over the cost of medicines, and quickly provided Gilead with billions of dollars in sales.
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My hat is off to our scribe! Failing memory lead me think this was NOT the largest settlement but it appears I was … “incorrect.” The one I remembered was only for a platy $1.7 billion (unadjusted for inflation). http://www.nj.com/business/index.ssf/2012/02/johnson_johnson_loses_patent_b.html
So now Merck will continue this ridiculous food fight by spending another hundred million $ in lawyer fees. Why not…their customers (patients) will pay for it.