Jury decides Abbott must pay J&J biotech division $1.67 billion

HORSHAM, Pa. A federal jury in Texas determined that Abbott Labs developed one of its most profitable drugs using the patented technology of another company.

The jury ordered Abbott to pay $1.67 billion to Johnson & Johnson biotech division Centocor Ortho Biotech. J&J had accused Abbott of developing the autoimmune drug Humira (adalimumab) with technology for which J&J co-owns a patent with New York University and that J&J had used to develop the competing drug Remicade (infliximab), according to published reports.

“We are particularly gratified that the jury recognized our valuable intellectual property, finding our patent both valid and infringed,” Centocor Ortho Biotech president Kim Taylor stated. “We will continue to assert intellectual property rights for our immunology therapies, as they offer significant advances in treatment for patients with a number of immune mediated inflammatory diseases.”

As of Tuesday, Abbott had not issued a public statement in response to the verdict, though The Chicago Tribune quoted an Abbott spokesman as saying that the company would appeal, also reporting Abbott’s counterargument that Humira was developed entirely from human DNA, while Remicade was partially derived from mouse DNA.