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Appeals court invalidates $1.2 billion fine against Gilead Sciences

By Brian Buntz | August 26, 2021

Gilead logo

Gilead logo

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit tossed a $1.2 billion fine against Gilead Sciences after invalidating portions of a Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center patent licensed to a Bristol Myers Squibb subsidiary.

The patent was the basis for the previous ruling against Foster City, Calif.–based Gilead, which related to patent infringement claims associated with Yescarta, a CAR-T immunotherapy developed by Gilead’s Kite Pharma subsidiary. The Bristol Myers Squibb unit Juno Therapeutics had developed a similar treatment.

In a legal opinion representing a unanimous three-judge decision, Chief U.S. Circuit Judge Kimberly Moore reasoned that the portions of the Memorial Kettering Cancer Center patent lacked adequate details.

In 2019, a jury concluded that Kite Pharma had infringed on the patent and awarded the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center $778 million in damages.

Later, U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez increased the damages to $1.2 billion.

The case is titled Juno Therapeutics Inc. et al. v. Kite Pharma Inc.

“We are pleased with the Federal Circuit’s decision, which correctly found that Juno’s patent lacks adequate support and is invalid,” said Geoff Biegler, principal at Fish & Richardson, which represented Kite Pharma in the case.

Fish & Richardson, Munger Tolles & Olson LLP,  in-house lawyers and appellate counsel at Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP worked collaboratively on behalf of Gilead in the case.

Gilead Sciences has experienced rapid growth in its CAR-T immunotherapy segment. In a Q2 earnings call, the company announced 39% sales growth year-over-year in its oncology CAR T-cell therapy product line.

In April, Gilead said that the $1.2 billion judgement was “legally unsupportable and will be reversed.” Bristol Myers Squibb had been seeking $1.5 billion in the patent infringement verdict.

Bristol Myers Squibb plans to seek a review of the most recent decision to invalidate the damages.


Filed Under: Oncology
Tagged With: CAR-T, Gilead Sciences, immunotherapy, Kite Pharma, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
 

About The Author

Brian Buntz

As the pharma and biotech editor at WTWH Media, Brian has almost two decades of experience in B2B media, with a focus on healthcare and technology. While he has long maintained a keen interest in AI, more recently Brian has made making data analysis a central focus, and is exploring tools ranging from NLP and clustering to predictive analytics.

Throughout his 18-year tenure, Brian has covered an array of life science topics, including clinical trials, medical devices, and drug discovery and development. Prior to WTWH, he held the title of content director at Informa, where he focused on topics such as connected devices, cybersecurity, AI and Industry 4.0. A dedicated decade at UBM saw Brian providing in-depth coverage of the medical device sector. Engage with Brian on LinkedIn or drop him an email at bbuntz@wtwhmedia.com.

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