Biogen Wins Patent Ruling for $4 Billion MS Treatment
- Posted by Janet Tice
- On March 30, 2017
As reported by Robert Weisman in The Boston Globe, Biogen’s patent on its top-selling multiple sclerosis treatment, Tecfidera, was upheld by a legal ruling in which the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board rejected a challenge by Texas hedge fund manager Kyle Bass. Bass has been working for years to invalidate key intellectual property rights of Biogen and other biotechs. A ruling in favor of the Bass-led Coalition for Affordable Drugs could have hurt Biogen’s revenue from the oral MS drug, which generated nearly $4 billion in sales last year.
Biogen settled part of a separate ongoing patent dispute with Denmark’s Forward Pharma A/S in January, agreeing to pay $1.2 billion to license Forward Pharma’s intellectual property covering an active ingredient in Tecfidera. Investors are awaiting a pending decision in a separate part of that case, in which Forward Pharma is seeking annual royalties from Biogen on the sale of Tecfidera. (Source: Robert Weisman, The Boston Globe, 21 March, 2017.)
Robert Weisman can be reached at robert.weisman@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeRobW.
