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GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)

GlaxoSmithKline Slammed With $90 Million Verdict for Patent Infringement

May 13, 2019

Pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline infringed upon UK-based Vectura’s patent on particle manufacturing and must pay the company $89.7 million, a federal jury in Delaware ruled.

Vectura first filed the litigation in July 2016, when it made claims that GSK’s sales of certain Ellipta dry powder inhalers fringed upon its patents. GSK had previously taken a license for Vectura’s formulation technology in 2010 but had failed to renew it, Ventura said.

The UK company’s ‘991 patent, titled Method of Making Particles for Use in a Pharmaceutical Composition,  relates to a method for making composite active particles in a drug composition. The jury found that GSK violated one of the patent’s claims by selling three of its Ellipta products in the U.S.

“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,” said Ventura CEO James Ward-Lilley.

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