- 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.
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