- Bristol Myers Squibb Co (NYSE:BMY) claims that AstraZeneca Plc's (NASDAQ:AZN) PD-L1 inhibitor, Imfinzi, infringed on at least eight patents in a newly filed complaint.
- The lawsuit in Delaware federal court said that the use of Imfinzi to treat lung and bladder cancer infringes several patents on Bristol's immunotherapy Opdivo.
- From the complaint: AstraZeneca exploits Plaintiffs' inventions and infringes Plaintiffs' intellectual property rights by marketing a later-developed anti-PD-L1 antibody product, Imfinzi (durvalumab), used in methods for treating cancer and for enhancing the immune response.
- AstraZeneca knew that Plaintiffs licensed their PD-L1 estate to other companies that also market anti-PD-L1 antibodies to treat urothelial carcinoma and non-small cell lung cancer.
- On information and belief, AstraZeneca monitored Plaintiffs' patent portfolio because in or around May 2019, AstraZeneca approached Plaintiffs about licensing one or more patents in Plaintiffs' PD-L1 patent portfolio. On information and belief, at least in connection with that outreach by AstraZeneca to Plaintiffs to license Plaintiffs' PD-L1 patent portfolio, AstraZeneca investigated Plaintiffs' portfolio of PD-L1-related patents and patent applications, which included the ’505 patent at that point.
- The ’505 patent is titled "Human Monoclonal Antibodies to Programmed Death Ligand 1 (PD-L1) with claims "generally directed to monoclonal antibodies that cross-compete with a specific reference antibody for binding to human PD-L1."
- Bristol Myers Squibb is looking for damages on top of patent infringement rulings.
- Price Action: AZN stock is up 0.19% at $63.35, and BMY shares are down 0.27% at $70.83 during the market session on the last check Monday.
