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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.
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.