In a landmark ruling, the US District Court for the District of Delaware has ordered AstraZeneca to pay Pfizer $107.5 million in damages for infringing on patents related to the lung cancer drug ‘Tagrisso.’ This case marks a significant victory for Pfizer in the fiercely competitive pharmaceutical industry.
The patents at the heart of the dispute, licensed by Pfizer to Puma Biotechnology for the production of the breast cancer drug ‘Nerlynx,’ were found to have been infringed upon by AstraZeneca’s ‘Tagrisso.’ The jury concluded that Tagrisso violated Pfizer’s Wyeth unit’s patent rights under US patents 10,603,314 and 10,596,162.
The jury’s findings
The jury found that AstraZeneca infringed upon three claims of Wyeth’s ‘314 patent and one claim of the ‘162 patent. These violations were relevant for both the second-line and first-line adjuvant use of Tagrisso. Despite the infringement, the jury found no evidence of wilful violation on AstraZeneca’s part.
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