U.S. jury orders Takeda to pay Bayer $155 million over hemophilia drug

(Reuters) – A U.S. jury has ordered Takeda Pharmaceutical Co’s Baxalta unit to pay Bayer AG $155.19 million for infringing a patent related to a Baxalta hemophilia treatment, court records made public on Tuesday show.

Jurors in the federal court in Wilmington, Delaware, reached their verdict on the seventh day of a trial after rejecting Baxalta’s argument that the June 2016 patent on the treatment, Adynovate, was invalid.

Bayer said the infringement arose from Baxalta’s exclusive license agreement with Nektar Therapeutics, a San Francisco-based company that had done research with Bayer and knew about the patent, including through litigation in Germany.

The award covered the period from June 14, 2016, to Nov. 30, 2018. Jurors applied a royalty rate of 17.78 percent to a royalty base of $872.84 million to arrive at the damages award.

Bayer is based in Leverkusen, Germany, with U.S. offices in Whippany, New Jersey.

Baxalta was based in Illinois before Shire Plc acquired the company in 2016. Takeda completed an acquisition of Shire for roughly $59 billion last month.

Takeda said it was disappointed with the verdict and will consider its legal options.

“As a company, we are committed to developing and commercializing products with the best interest of patients in mind, and without violating the intellectual property rights of third parties,” it added.

Bayer said it was pleased with the verdict, “which confirms the strength of Bayer’s innovation in hemophilia treatment.”

Hemophilia is a mostly inherited disorder where blood fails to clot properly. It can result in prolonged bleeding after an injury.

Shire’s sales of Adynovate and other hemophilia treatments totaled $2.23 billion in the nine months ending Sept. 30, 2018, including $1.15 billion in the United States.

The case is Bayer Healthcare LLC v Baxalta Inc et al, U.S. District Court, District of Delaware, No. 16-01122.