The District of Delaware has issued a scheduling order, setting a trial for April 2024, in Bristol Myers Squibb's (BMS) patent case against AstraZeneca. BMS filed its complaint against AstraZeneca on March 17, 2022, alleging infringement of eight patents related to anti-PD-L1 antibodies. According to BMS, the case "relates to groundbreaking treatments for cancer" using anti-PD-L1 antibodies that bind to PD-L1 (programmed death ligand 1) and serve as "checkpoint inhibitors that release the brakes on the immune systems, freeing the immune cells to recognize, attack and destroy cancer cells." The asserted patents include claims generally directed to monoclonal antibodies that cross-compete with a specific reference antibody for binding to human PD-L1, and methods of treating various cancers by administering an anti-PD-L1 antibody.
BMS contends that AstraZeneca's IMFINZI (durvalumab) is a PD-L1 blocking antibody that infringes the asserted patents. The FDA approved IMFINZI in 2017 for patients with certain types of urothelial carcinoma, and has since approved additional treatment indications.
The case is assigned to Visiting Judge Matthew F. Kennelly from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The court has set a deadline for fact discovery to be completed by June 16, 2023, expert discovery to be completed by October 27, 2023, and a 5-day jury trial in April 2024.
Stay tuned to Big Molecule Watch for further developments in this case.
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