Vectura has filed a patent infringement suit against GlaxoSmithKline after GSK said that it would not exercise its option for additional patent licenses for various Ellipta DPI products under a 2010 agreement. Many of the patents covered in the agreement expire in 2016.
Vectura says that GSK is infringing on US Patent No. 8,303,991, titled “Method of making particles for use in a pharmaceutical composition,” but that “Vectura continues to remain open to finding a mutually acceptable solution in order to avoid costs and potential uncertainty over royalties that have, up to now, been subject to a cap of £13 million per calendar year.”
According to the patent abstract, “The invention relates to a method for making composite active particles for use in a pharmaceutical composition for pulmonary administration, the method comprising a milling step in which particles of active material are milled in the presence of particles of an additive material which is suitable for the promotion of the dispersal of the composite active particles upon actuation of an inhaler.”
Vectura CEO James Ward-Lilley said, “As a UK-based R&D collaborator and formulation specialist, the group undertakes to build strong collaborative partnerships respecting important and valued IP and know how. Vectura has now issued proceedings in the US to enforce its patents relating to these products. Vectura has a robust, diversified business with a series of growing revenue streams from products at relatively early stages of their respective sales trajectories. The focus of the organization is the progression of the portfolio and leveraging the benefits of the recent merger with Skyepharma including the additional revenues of new product opportunities and delivery of committed cost synergies.”
Read the Vectura press release.
