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Feb 17 (Reuters) – A federal judge in Delaware has overturned a jury’s verdict requiring Gilead Sciences Inc to pay a record $2.54 billion because its hepatitis C drugs Sovaldi and Harvoni infringed a patent held by rival Merck & Co Inc.
The verdict had been the largest ever in a U.S. patent case but U.S. District Judge Leonard Stark in Wilmington, Delaware, on Friday ruled Merck’s patent was invalid. He said it did not meet a requirement that it disclose how to make and use the treatment it covered without undue experimentation.
Merck in a statement on Saturday said it planned to appeal and believed the judge’s ruling did not reflect the facts of the case. Gilead did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Saturday.