In a high-stakes patent lawsuit between the CAR-T companies of Bristol-Myers Squibb and Gilead Sciences, BMS has come up with a victory.
After a two-week trial, jurors in California ordered Gilead’s Kite Pharma to pay $752 million to BMS’ Juno Therapeutics and its partners, who sued in 2017 for patent infringement.
A BMS spokesperson said the company is “pleased” with the decision.
“Bristol-Myers Squibb is committed to defending its intellectual property and that of its research partners, and protecting the incentives that drive innovative research including our pipeline of CAR-T therapies,” she added in a statement. “We believe this outcome will support our ability to continue delivering innovative medicines and transforming patients’ lives.”
A Gilead representative didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
In its lawsuit, Juno alleged Kite scientific collaborators copied research by scientists at Sloan Kettering to advance Kite’s CAR-T work and eventually win approval for Yescarta. In 2013, Juno exclusively licensed a patent from Sloan Kettering and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center covering the technology.
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In 2017, Kite scored a FDA approval for its CAR-T cancer med Yescarta; Juno contended that the company was infringing the patent it licensed by marketing the med.
Following a series of deals, Juno is now part of Bristol-Myers Squibb. Celgene first bought the CAR-T focused biotech for $9 billion, and BMS just closed its massive Celgene merger. Kite Pharma joined Gilead under a 2017 buyout.
