Plexxikon Inc. v. Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp.

Patent Infringement

Northern District

U.S. District Judge Haywood S. Gilliam Jr.

$177 Million

Plaintiffs attorneys: Durie Tangri LLP, Daralyn J. Durie, Eugene Novikov, Kira A. Davis, David F. McGowan, Raghav R. Krishnapriyan, Whitney R. O'Byrne, Hannah Jiam, Andrew T. Jones, Katherine E. McNutt; Young Basile Hanlon & Macfarlane P.C.,Jeffrey D. Wilson, Andrew R. Basile, Jr., Eddie D. Woodworth, Ryan T. McCleary

Defense attorneys: McDermott Will & Emerys, Thomas P. Steindler, Paul M. Schoenhard, Michael S. Nadel, Ian B. Brooks, Jennifer B. Routh, David Mlaver, Sarah C. Columbia, William G. Gaede III, Nicole M. Jantzi (now with Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP).

Daralyn J. Durie

Co-lead plaintiffs' lawyer Daralyn J. Durie and her team were having a quick lunch near the courthouse in Oakland after a federal jury began to consider Plexxicon Inc.'s claim that a rival pharmaceutical company infringed two of its cancer drug patents. Before the meal was over, "I got a text," Durie said. "The verdict was in."

The quick result last July had a huge payoff: the panel--after less than a morning's deliberation--concluded that Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. owed Plexxicon $178 million for making slight molecular changes to compounds Plexxicon developed beginning in 2005 that help reduce cancer cell growth. It then co-developed the skin cancer drug Zelboraf in collaboration with F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG.

"The invention our guys at Plexxicon came up with was extraordinary," Durie said. "There was something of a David versus Goliath theme here to some extent. All the giant pharmas had tried and failed to target this particular mutation that causes melanoma. The scientists at Plexxicon figured out that the mutated cells had a differently shaped protein that could be blocked from reproducing."

Durie and co-lead Eugene Novikov translated the science into a digestible narrative jurors grasped. "We put on fact witnesses who were pretty science-y, and we also showed photos of our scientists with their 3-D glasses on," Novikov said. "As we got to the endpoint, we could tell the jury was following our story." Plexxikon Inc. v. Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp., 3:17-cv-04405 (N.D. Cal., filed Aug. 3, 2017).

Novartis' Tafinlar and Mekinist drugs, based on Plexxicon's breakthroughs, generated $1.5 billion in revenue in 2020. Novartis' lead defense attorney, Thomas P. Steindler, did not return a message seeking comment. He told jurors in closing arguments that Plexxicon's case was "all about the money" even though it didn't use the patents to make any drugs itself.

Novartis has said it will likely appeal, though post-trial motions are still in the works.

Durie said the case was unusual for her firm. "We're not on the plaintiff side that often, and this is the largest plaintiff award I've been involved in."

- John Roemer

Eugene Novikov

Kira A. Davis