According to Vectura, a jury has found that US sales of several of GlaxoSmithKline’s Ellipta DPIs infringed on Vectura’s US patent 8303991 (“Method of making particles for use in a pharmaceutical composition”). The jury awarded Vectura $89.7 million in damages and found that GSK willfully infringed on the patent, allowing Vectura to ask for enhanced damages.
Vectura filed suit in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware in July 2016. GSK had informed Vectura at the time that it would not exercise an option for additional patent licenses for Ellipta DPI products after patents expired in 2016 as had been specified under a 2010 agreement. The jury trial began in April 2019 after negotiations between the companies failed, and the verdict came on May 3, 2019.
The damages equate to 3% of US sales of Breo, Anoro, and Incruse Ellipta from August 2016 through December 2018, and Vectura said that it “expects to seek application of the 3% royalty to the sales of the infringing products through the end of the patent term in mid-2021.”
Vectura CEO James Ward-Lilley commented, “Although we regret the need to take a longstanding partner to court, we are pleased with the jury’s verdict which confirms the validity of our intellectual property and the decision to progress this action with GSK. We will provide updates on this matter in due course.”
Read the Vectura press release.
