Jury Orders Novartis to Pay $178 Million for Patent Violation

A jury in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California has ordered Novartis to pay $177.8 million to Plexxikon, a subsidiary of Daiichi Sankyo, for infringing on two of the Japanese company’s patents.

Novartis’s Tafinlar (dabrafenib) is a kinase inhibitor indicated for treating patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma with the BRAF V600E gene mutation. It competes with Zelboraf (vemurafenib), another BRAF inhibitor that was discovered by Plexxikon and licensed to Roche.

The jury award for Plexxikon also includes additional royalty payments for future sales of Tafinlar in the U.S. through the life of the patents, which expire in July 2028.