US court rules in GlaxoSmithKline's favor in Arzerra patent dispute

A US District Court has entered final judgment in favor of UK pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline (LSE: GSK) in a patent infringement case involving Arzerra (ofatumumab) brought against GSK by Genentech, a subsidiary of Swiss major Roche (ROG: SIX), and the USA’s Biogen Idec (Nasdaq: BIIB).

Genentech and Biogen Idec filed the patent infringement law suit in first quarter of last year (The Pharma Letter March 26, 2010) with the US District Court in San Diego, California claiming Arzerra infringed US Patent No 7,682,612 covering methods of treating chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) with anti-CD20 antibodies. GSK denied infringement and claimed the patent was invalid and unenforceable.

The decision in favor of GSK and Danish biotech firm Genmab (LMX: GEN) came after the court defined certain terms of the patent claims. Based on this, Genentech and Biogen Idec conceded to a judgment in favor of GSK's counterclaim of non-infringement. Genentech and Biogen Idec will have the option to appeal the decision concerning the interpretation of the patent claims.