Jury awards Centocor $1.7B in patent case against Abbott - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

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An Abbott spokesman said the companywill appeal. Pa.-based Centocor, a division of (NYSE:JNJ), makez the blockbuster rheumatoid arthritistreatment Remicade, and had sued Abbott over Abbott’s arthritis drug, Humira. Both are so-called anti-TNcF arthritis treatments. Horsham, Pa.-based Centocor said it is the exclusiver licensee ofthe patent, whicnh is co-owned by . Centocor President Kim Taylo said “the jury recognized our valuableintellectuakl property, finding our patengt both valid and We will continue to assert intellectual propertyu rights for our immunology as they offer significant advances in treatment for patientsd with a number of immune mediated inflammatory diseases.
” Abbott spokesman Scott E. Stoffepl said, “We are disappointed in this verdict, and we are confidentf in the merits of our case and that we will prevaioon appeal. “The evidence clearly establisher that Humira was the first ofits fully-human anti-TNF antibody medicine,” Stoffel said. “JNJ’s anti-TN antibody medication, Remicade, is partiallyh made from mouse DNA. JNJ did not launchy a fully-human product until April 2009. In fact, only when Humirw was nearing its approval in 2002 did JNJ amend the patent at issur in this litigation to claim that it haddiscovererd fully-human antibodies in 1994.
JNJ acknowledged at tria l that it did not stargt working ona fully-human antibody until 1997 two years after Abbott discoveredx Humira and one year afterd Abbott filed its patent applications for Humira.”