After years of back and forth with Daiichi Sankyo over cancer drug patent claims, Novartis has thrown in the towel with a $182 million settlement.
The case stems back to 2017 and has its roots in Novartis’ Tafinlar, a melanoma therapy that the company acquired from GSK after a 2015 asset swap. Daiichi’s former subsidiary Plexxikon, which makes melanoma treatment Zelboraf, alleged that GSK scientists only gathered the knowledge necessary to develop the rival drug after consulting with Plexxikon for talks about a partnership that never came to fruition.
Plexxikon’s patents date back to 2005, while GSK filed its first patent application on the drug in 2008, Plexxikon said.
In 2021, a Northern California jury ruled in favor of Plexxikon, determining that Novartis stepped on two of the Daiichi subsidiary's patents. Novartis was ordered to pay Daiichi’s subsidiary 9% royalty payments on future Tafinlar sales until certain Zelboraf patents expire later this decade, plus $177.8 million, a sum that could have been tripled due to the jury’s finding of “willful” infringement.
Novartis' Tafinlar has eaten away at Zelboraf’s sales since entering the market after its rival, pulling in $1.7 billion last year along with its combination partner Mekinist. Daiichi's Zelboraf sales peaked at around $218 million.
The verdict was ultimately upheld by a Northern California district court, but the jury’s willful infringement finding was reversed.
Novartis took the case to an appeals court last October, but the case is now dismissed with the settlement, Daiichi said in a new statement.
Plexxikon has since been shut down more than 10 years after Daiichi acquired the biotech in a $935 million deal.