A Delaware federal jury ruled on Friday that AstraZeneca must pay Pfizer $107.5 million in damages, determining that AstraZeneca’s top-selling lung cancer drug, Tagrisso, infringed on patent rights owned by Pfizer’s Wyeth unit.
The jury found that Tagrisso violated two patents related to cancer treatment methods using the breast cancer drug Nerlynx, marketed by Puma Biotechnology. Puma licenses these patents from Pfizer for its drug production.
A spokesperson for AstraZeneca expressed disappointment with the verdict, stating the company is “confident in our intellectual property position regarding Tagrisso” and plans to “vigorously defend” its rights.
Pfizer representatives have not yet commented on the decision. Puma is no longer a plaintiff in the case.
According to a company report, Tagrisso generated nearly $5.8 billion in revenue for AstraZeneca last year.
Pfizer, based in New York, acquired Wyeth in 2009 and sued AstraZeneca in 2021, claiming that Tagrisso used kinase inhibitors to treat cancer similarly to Nerlynx.
AstraZeneca denied the infringement allegations and argued the patents were invalid.
U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly will conduct a separate bench trial in June to address some of AstraZeneca’s remaining defenses, which could potentially overturn the jury’s verdict.
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