Gilead Sciences Ordered to Pay $2.5 Billion in Damages to Merck & Co.
December 15 2016 - 6:36PM
Dow Jones News
By Jonathan D. Rockoff
A federal jury in Delaware on Thursday ordered Gilead Sciences
Inc. to pay $2.5 billion in damages to Merck & Co. for
infringing its patents in developing hepatitis C drugs.
The patent-infringement decision, issued by a jury in a U.S.
District Court in Delaware, involved two Gilead drugs that have
rung up billions of dollars in sales, Sovaldi and Harvoni.
The jury decided that Gilead's two drugs violated the patents
held by Idenix Pharmaceuticals, a company bought by Merck for $3.9
billion in 2014.
Gilead said it disagrees with the verdict and "intends to
vigorously" appeal.
"We remain steadfast in our opinion that Idenix's U.S. patent is
invalid, " Gilead said, adding that the ruling won't affect the
company's ability to sell its hepatitis C drugs.
Merck said: "The jury's verdict upholds patent protections that
are essential to the development of new medical treatments."
Write to Jonathan D. Rockoff at Jonathan.Rockoff@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 15, 2016 18:21 ET (23:21 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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