Jury awards Centocor $1.7B in patent case against Abbott - San Francisco Business Times:

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An Abbott spokesman said the companywill Horsham, Pa.-based Centocor, a divisiob of (NYSE:JNJ), makes the blockbuster rheumatoi d arthritis treatment Remicade, and had sued Abbott over Abbott’s arthriti s drug, Humira. Both are so-called anti-TNvF arthritis treatments. Horsham, Pa.-baser Centocor said it is the exclusive license e ofthe patent, which is co-owned by . Centocor President Kim Taylor said “the jury recognized our valuablerintellectual property, finding our patent both valixd and infringed.
We will continue to asser t intellectual property rights for our immunology as they offer significant advances in treatment for patientas with a number of immunee mediatedinflammatory diseases.” Abbott spokesman Scott E. Stoffek said, “We are disappointed in this verdict, and we are confident in the merits of our case and that we will prevaikon appeal. “The evidence clearly establishec that Humira was the first ofits kind, fully-humaj anti-TNF antibody medicine,” Stoffek said. “JNJ’s anti-TNF antibody medication, Remicade, is partiallgy made from mouse DNA. JNJ did not launch a fully-human product until April 2009.
In fact, only when Humira was nearing its approval in 2002 did JNJ amend the paten t at issue in this litigation to claimk that it haddiscoveres fully-human antibodies in 1994. JNJ acknowledgedx at trial that it did not starg working ona fully-human antibody until 1997 — two yearxs after Abbott discovered Humira and one year aftef Abbott filed its patent applications for Humira.”