Patent Infringement: Vectura wins case against GSK; awarded $89.7 million in damages

Vectura started legal proceedings against GSK in July 2016 after a patent license agreement between the two companies expired and GSK declined to license additional patent families under the original agreement.

U.S: British drugmaker Vectura GroupPlc said on Saturday that it won a patent infringement litigation case against GlaxoSmithKline Plc in the United States and has been awarded $89.7 million in damages for the period from August 2016 through December 2018.

A jury trial in a Delaware district court on Friday found that one of Vectura's U.S. patents was infringed by sales of three of GlaxoSmithKline's Ellipta products in the United States, Vectura said.

The jury found that GlaxoSmithKline, which is also a UK-based pharmaceutical company, willfully infringed the patent, which Vectura said gives it the right to seek enhanced damages.

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Vectura expects to seek application of the 3 per cent royalty to sales of the infringing products through the end of the patent term in mid-2021, it said.

Vectura started legal proceedings against GlaxoSmithKline in July 2016 after a patent license agreement between the two companies expired and GSK declined to license additional patent families under the original agreement.

GlaxoSmithKline did not respond to Reuters request for comment outside regular business hours.

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