Monday, January 5, 2009

Alexion Pharmaceuticals to pay $25M in patent dispute

By Marc Songini

Cheshire, Conn.-based Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. has resolved an ongoing patent dispute with PDL BioPharma Inc. over Alexion’s Soliris antibody therapy. Alexion (Nasdaq: ALXN) announced that it would pay $25 million to PDL BioPharma (Nasdaq: PDLI) for rights to use some of PDL’s patent portfolio called the Queen in its Soliris drug.

The dispute resolution will cause claims and counterclaims filed by the companies in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware to be dismissed.

The U.S. and European Union approved Soliris in 2007 to treat patients with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH), a rare, debilitating and life-threatening blood disease that destroys red blood cells. Patients with PNH face life-threatening thromboses, recurrent pain and kidney disease, among other ailments.

Under terms of the agreement, Alexion will not sue over other claims in the Queen patent portfolio. Moreover, PDL has granted Alexion the right to take a royalty-bearing license using the Queen patents in the future. Should Alexion take such a license, it will pay PDL a royalty of 4 percent of net sales of these non-Soliris products.

This isn’t Alexion’s first patent wrangle over Soliris. In February of 2008, Alexion agreed to pay $10 million to the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation for all rights to some Soliris-related patents.