By Kuldip K. Ambastha
Biogen Inc. (BIIB) had a -7.5% return on Thursday, June 18, 2020. On this day, Biogen Inc. lost a legal dispute (over a patent) being heard by a U.S. district court. The patent dispute centered on a multiple sclerosis treatment drug called Tecfidera, which uses dimethyl fumarate as its main active ingredient. (In 2017, Biogen Inc. reached a legal settlement with a Danish company, such that Biogen Inc. could pay a fee to buy the license for the intellectual property around dimethyl fumarate.) The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia found a lack of substantial written information about the patent. With a patent, Biogen Inc. would have been able to exclusively produce and sell Tecfidera through 2028. This is no longer possible, and thus many other companies may be able to provide generic equivalents of Tecfidera to consumers after getting the needed approvals. Another U.S. district court case on this matter is pending, in Delaware.
Keywords – Biogen Inc., BIIB, Tecfidera, dimethyl fumarate, multiple sclerosis, treatment, West Virginia, Delaware, patent, license, intellectual property.
Disclosure – The clients of Ambastha Financial LLC do not have any positions in BIIB. The principals of Ambastha Financial LLC do have a short option position in BIIB.
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