Gilead Sciences wins reversal of $1.2 billion award in patent case with Bristol Myers

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Gilead

Gilead Sciences wins reversal of $1.2 bln award in patent case with Bristol Myers

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(Reuters) – A U.S. appeals court on Thursday threw out a $1.2 billion ruling against Gilead Sciences Inc (GILD.O), finding a patent on a cancer therapy it was accused of infringing was invalid, in a blow to rival Bristol Myers Squibb Co (BMY.N).

The two companies have been embroiled in a case involving accusations that Yescarta, the CAR-T cell cancer immunotherapy from Gilead’s Kite Pharma unit, infringed on a patent for a similar therapy from Bristol’s Juno Therapeutics.

Last year, a federal judge increased the damages from a jury trial and ordered Gilead to pay Bristol Myers $1.2 billion in the patent infringement case. The ruling on Thursday by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed the decision.

Bristol Myers in a statement said it disagreed with latest ruling and would seek a review of the Federal Circuit’s decision.

Gilead and Kite’s attorney Josh Rosenkranz of Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Gilead shares were up 0.3%, while Bristol shares were off 0.5% in midday trading.

The Gilead drug, Yescarta, belongs to a class of cutting-edge cancer treatments known as chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy, or CAR-T, which reprograms the body’s own immune cells to recognize and attack malignant cells.

Gilead bought Kite Pharma, which developed Yescarta, for $11.9 billion in 2017, with the treatment securing U.S. approval that year. It recorded sales of $338 million in the first six months of this year.