This page is an archive. Its content may no longer be accurate and was last updated on the original publication date. It is intended for reference and as a historical record only. For hep C questions, call Help4Hep BC at 1-888-411-7578.
The University of Minnesota filed a lawsuit against Gilead Sciences, maintaining that the pharmaceutical company infringed on a patent when it marketed 3 medications for the treatment of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) containing the drug sofosbuvir, including the company’s brand-name drugs Sovaldi, Harvoni, and Epclusa, reported STAT.
The university’s lawsuit states that all 3 drugs are covered by patent rights assigned to the university by Carston Wagner, PhD, professor and endowed chair of the Department of Medicinal Chemistry at the university’s college of pharmacy. The University of Minnesota says that Wagner received the patent in August 2014, and the lawsuit states that the structural formula of sofosbuvir falls within the scope of its patent.
The university’s lawsuit states that the patent covers antiviral compounds and methods for using those compounds to treat viral infections, such as that caused by hepatitis C virus. It contends that Gilead’s medications incorporate the contributions of Dr. Wagner that are disclosed and claimed in the patent.
“Gilead has reaped tens of billions of dollars in the sales of those drugs, without the University’s authorization and without compensating the University,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit is Regents of the University of Minnesota v. Gilead Sciences, Inc., filed in the US District Court for the District of Minnesota, case number 0:16-cv-02915. It was filed August 30, 2016.
Gilead has responded that it believes the university’s patent is invalid and not infringed by the sale of the company’s medicines for HCV. Gilead strongly believes that it has the sole right to commercialize Sovaldi in the United States.