Higher court rules in Chugai's favor in Baxalta patent row

The Japanese Intellectual Property High Court has ruled in favor of the Roche (ROG: SIX) majority-owned subsidiary Chugai (TYO: 4519) in relation to allegations that its hemophilia A drug Hemlibra (emicizumab-kxwh) breached another company’s patent.

Baxalta, a firm that was taken over in 2015 by Shire, which itself is now part of Takeda (TYO: 4502), made the allegation in 2016 and it was initially rejected by the Tokyo District Court in March 2018.

This led Baxalta to appeal to the higher court, which announced on Thursday that it too had found in Chugai’s favor, meaning that the appeal is dismissed and court costs should be paid by Baxalta.