Eli Lilly & Co. v. Dr. Reddy's Labs., Ltd.
Eli Lilly & Co. v. Dr. Reddy's Labs., Ltd.
Opinion of the Court
*1045This matter was before the Court for a bench trial beginning on February 1, 2018 and concluding on February 2, 2018, on the issue of infringement of
I. FINDINGS OF FACT
Lilly is a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State of Indiana, having its corporate offices and principal place of business at Lilly Corporate Center, Indianapolis, Indiana 46285. Lilly sells pemetrexed in the United States under the trademark ALIMTA® for treatment of patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma, or for the initial treatment of locally advanced or metastatic nonsquamous non-small cell lung cancer, and other forms of lung cancer. ALIMTA ® is covered under
Dr. Reddy's Ltd. is a drug manufacturer with a principal executive office at Hyderabad, Telangana 500 034, India, and Dr. Reddy's Inc. is a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State of New Jersey. Dr. Reddy's is in the business of manufacturing, marketing, and selling both generic and non-generic drug products. In December 2015, Dr. Reddy's notified Lilly that it had submitted to the FDA New Drug Application No. 208297, a product that will be marketed as competing products to ALIMTA ®
Dr. Clet Niyikiza ("Dr. Niyikiza"), the inventor of the '209 Patent, is a mathematician that was employed by Lilly in the 1990s to help with the clinical development of cancer compounds. In early 1997, Dr. Niyikiza performed a series of statistical analyses, known as multivariate analyses, on more than 60 variables in patients participating in pemetrexed clinical trials in efforts to better understand which patients were likely to develop the sporadic toxicities observed with pemetrexed. The problem the invention solves is toxicity in patients receiving chemotherapeutic treatment with pemetrexed. In particular, the '209 Patent provides for a method that mitigates the toxicity associated with pemetrexed treatment, using the vitamin pretreatment regimen of vitamin B12 and folic acid. (Filing No. 231 at 35.)
*1046The primary focus of this infringement trial is on whether Dr. Reddy's label, specifically the use of pemetrexed ditromethamine product described therein, infringes the '209 Patent, which uses pemetrexed disodium, under the doctrine of equivalents. The '209 Patent covers the method of administration of ALIMTA ®, requiring that physicians co-administer the drug with folic acid and vitamin B12 to reduce the incidence of patient toxicity caused by ALIMTA ®. Claim 12 of the '209 Patent describes an improved method for administering pemetrexed disodium, comprising "a) administration of between 3500 µg and about 1000 µg of folic acid prior to the first administration of pemetrexed disodium; b) administration of about 500 µg to about 1500 µg of vitamin B12, prior to the first administration of pemetrexed disodium; and c) administration of pemetrexed disodium." (Filing No. 1-1 at 9 ).
The parties disagree on the relevance of any chemical differences between pemetrexed disodium and pemetrexed ditromethamine, nevertheless both Lilly's and Dr. Reddy's experts, Dr. Bruce A. Chabner, M.D., ("Dr. Chabner"), Rodolfo Pinal ("Dr. Pinal"), and George Gokel ("Dr. Gokel"), agreed on what the differences were between the two chemical compounds. Sodium is an inorganic metallic salt, and tromethamine is an organic, nonmetallic salt. (Filing No. 231 at 181.) Tromethamine weighs more than sodium.
II. CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
A. Prosecution History Estoppel
In the Court's amended Final Pretrial Entry, the Court permitted the parties, at trial, to supplement the summary judgment record on the issue of prosecution history estoppel. (Filing No. 216 at 4.) In its Entry on Motion for Summary Judgment of Noninfringement, the Court found Lilly was not barred, as a matter of law under prosecution history estoppel, from asserting the doctrine of equivalents. (Filing No. 199 at 15.) ("Lilly has met its burden of showing that it did not surrender the equivalent in question because the choice of pemetrexed salt is tangential to the reasons for the amendment and summary judgment is precluded on this issue.")
As in the summary judgment briefing, Dr. Reddy's continues to collapse the foreseeability exception with the tangential exception, on which the Court relied in holding in Lilly's favor. Festo Corp. v. Shoketsu Kinzoku Kogyo Kabushiki Co.,
B. Disclosure-Dedication Rule
Another issue, extensively briefed by the parties on summary judgment, was the disclosure-dedication doctrine. Again, the trial record and the summary judgment record contain significant overlap as to this issue. Because Lilly did not move for summary judgment on this issue, it was not decided on summary judgment, rather it was fleshed out by expert testimony at the trial. The disclosure-dedication rule bars a doctrine of equivalents claim when a patentee discloses but does not claim subject matter. Johnson & Johnston Associates, Inc. v. R.E. Service Co., Inc.,
As noted in the Court's Entry on Motion for Summary Judgment of Noninfringement, it is undisputed that the '209 Patent's specification did not expressly disclose pemetrexed ditromethamine. Rather, Dr. Reddy's bases its disclosure-dedication argument on the fact that the '209 Patent referenced
Rather, the 'disclosure must be of such specificity that one of ordinary skill in the art could identify the subject matter that had been disclosed and not claimed.' Additionally, in Pfizer Inc. v. Teva Pharmaceuticals, USA, Inc.,429 F.3d 1364 (Fed. Cir. 2005), this court further clarified that 'before unclaimed subject matter is deemed to have been dedicated to the public, that unclaimed subject matter must have been identified by the patentee as an alternative to a claim limitation.'
At trial, Dr. Pinal testified that Akimoto included pemetrexed and any "pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof." (Filing No. 231 at 249.) From this concession, Dr. Reddy's argues that pharmaceutically accepted salts would include substituted ammonium salts of which tromethamine is one of a few FDA-approved substituted ammonium salts. (Filing No. 234 at 24.) Thus, Dr. Reddy's contends that a POSA would have recognized pemetrexed in combination with tromethamine as an alternative to pemetrexed disodium. (Filing No. 234 at 26-27.) Lilly responds that while Dr. *1048Pinal testified that pemetrexed is within the genus covered by Akimoto, Dr. Pinal also testified that Akimoto disclosed a genus of thousands of antifolates. (Filing No. 231 at 227.) Further, tromethamine is not specifically disclosed in any referenced patent nor is the compound pemetrexed ditromethamine. (Filing No. 238 at 16-17.) Because Akimoto was not expressly incorporated, as required, in the '209 Patent, and in any event Akimoto does not specifically disclose pemetrexed ditromethamine as an alternative to pemetrexed disodium, the disclosure-dedication rule does not bar Lilly's doctrine of equivalents claim. At most, the reference to Akimoto and what was contained therein amounts to a generic reference which does not dedicate all members of a particular genus to the public.
C. Doctrine of Equivalents
Lilly asserts, and the Court agrees, that healthcare providers using the proposed Dr. Reddy's product will directly infringe under the doctrine of equivalents, and that Dr. Reddy's is liable as an indirect infringer under
As an initial matter, the relevant POSA must be defined for a doctrine of equivalents analysis. "What constitutes equivalency must be determined against the context of the patent, the prior art, and the particular circumstances of the case." Warner-Jenkinson Co. v. Hilton Davis Chem. Co.,
Dr. Reddy's POSA definition is defeated by the plain language of the '209 Patent as the invention explicitly identifies it as "a method of reducing the toxicity associated with the administration of an antifolate to *1049a mammal ..." (Filing No. 1-1 at 5 ). Lilly is correct that the relevant POSA who works to mitigate the toxicities of chemotherapy would be an oncologist, particularly an oncologist with extensive experience in the areas of nutritional sciences involving vitamin deficiencies as confirmed by Dr. Chabner. Thus, equivalency is examined from an oncologist POSA. The relevant POSA is critical (and dispositive) to resolving the doctrine of equivalents analysis in the context of the claims as to whether the POSA would focus on the different salt forms of pemetrexed disodium and pemetrexed ditromethamine as being substantial differences, or instead would focus on the pemetrexed treatment that the patient receives.
The United States Supreme Court has set out two frameworks for evaluating equivalence-the function, way, result test (whether the accused product performs 'substantially the same function in substantially the same way to obtain the same result'), and the insubstantial differences test (whether the accused product or process is substantially different from what is patented). Mylan Institutional LLC v. Aurobindo Pharma Ltd.,
"Under the doctrine of equivalents, a claim limitation not literally met may be satisfied by an element of the accused product if the differences between the two are 'insubstantial' to one of ordinary skill in the art." Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc. v. Schering-Plough Corp.,
Under the relevant context that the claim relates to medical treatment, pemetrexed ditromethamine treats the patient's cancer in exactly the same way as pemetrexed disodium. It is undisputed that when both pemetrexed disodium and pemetrexed ditromethamine are placed in solution, that both compounds dissociate completely in solution resulting in free pemetrexed and therapeutically irrelevant counterions. Id. at 208-09. In fact, in aqueous solution, the two products will be identical. (Filing No. 231 at 212.) Recognizing these similarities, Dr. Reddy's relied on Lilly's clinical trials of pemetrexed disodium, *1050in demonstrating the safety and efficacy of its product, when it told the FDA that the salt form does not matter when it comes to treating the patient to support approval of its NDA product. (Filing No. 231 at 80-81.) It is undisputed that the products are bioequivalent; however, the parties disagree on whether there is patent equivalence in the context of the claimed method. (Filing No. 234 at 42-43; Filing No. 238 at 24.) "[W]hen a commercial product meets all of the claim limitations, then a comparison to that product may support a finding of infringement." Adams Respiratory Therapeutics, Inc. v. Perrigo Co.,
The differences in the chemical properties between pemetrexed disodium and pemetrexed ditromethamine with regards to solubility, stability, pH, and buffering capacity are irrelevant in the context of the claimed method including this Court's claim construction. (Filing No. 234 at 42.) Additionally, the theoretical phenomenon of the difference of salting out between the two products is irrelevant, as ALIMTA®'s label "requires the solution to be clear prior to administration and specifically instructs physicians not to administer it if any particulate matter is observed." (Filing No. 235 at 22-23.) To be sure, the evidence shows that tromethamine differs from sodium with regards to the chemical properties as alleged by Dr. Reddy's. Lilly does not dispute that there are differences when the products are in solid form, instead Lilly argues that the differences are insubstantial. (Filing No. 231 at 80.) The Court agrees. The differences are irrelevant in the context of the claimed method which is a liquid administration of pemetrexed sodium. What is in fact ultimately administered to the patient is injectable pemetrexed ions that enter the patient's cells. (Filing No. 231 at 79-80.) The products are identical in liquid form as pemetrexed is the active moiety in both Dr. Reddy's and Lilly's products dissolved in solution. (See Filing No. 232 at 124-25; Filing No. 235 at 18.) Furthermore, Dr. Reddy's incorrectly relies on a chemist POSA in posing nonequivalence, who would not administer the drugs to a patient as the '209 Patent is a claimed method of treatment. Accordingly, Lilly has shown by a preponderance of the evidence that Dr. Reddy's product is equivalent to Lilly's product.
D. Inducement and Contribution to Infringement of '209 Patent
A party can be held liable for indirect infringement by actively inducing or contributing to direct infringement by others.
"Inducement requires that the alleged infringer knowingly induced infringement and possessed a specific intent to encourage another's infringement." AstraZeneca LP v. Apotex, Inc.,
Relying on Commil USA, LLC v. Cisco Sys., Inc., --- U.S. ----,
As noted previously, administration of pemetrexed ditromethamine according to Dr. Reddy's label infringes Lilly's product under the doctrine of equivalents. In a Hatch-Waxman case such as this, infringement "is focused on the product that is likely to be sold following FDA approval," including the relevant knowledge of the parties at the time the product is sold. See Abbott Laboratories v. TorPharm, Inc.,
This Court has determined that Dr. Reddy's product infringes the '209 Patent under the doctrine of equivalents. Accordingly, it cannot avoid intent or infringement on the bases that it possessed a "good faith belief that its proposed product[s] would not infringe." Moreover, the Court finds, based on a preponderance of the evidence, Dr. Reddy's label instructs users to perform the patented method by both inducing and contributing to infringement and that Dr. Reddy's had the requisite specific intent and knowledge that its label would cause such infringement. Dr. Reddy's product does not have a substantial noninfringing use to avoid contributory infringement. A physician administering Dr. Reddy's product would constitute direct infringement under § 271(a) ; thus, the use the Dr. Reddy's NDA products would constitute inducement and contributory infringement of the '209 Patent by Dr. Reddy's under
III. CONCLUSION
Based upon the foregoing findings of fact and conclusions of law, the Court concludes *1052that Lilly has shown by a preponderance of the evidence that the asserted claims of the '209 Patent would be infringed by Dr. Reddy's product under the doctrine of equivalents based upon inducement and contributory infringement. The Court finds that Dr. Reddy's product indirectly infringes the asserted claims of the '209 Patent, and finds in favor of Eli Lilly And Company and against Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, Inc. and Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, Ltd. Final judgment shall issue separate from this Entry.
SO ORDERED.
Dr. Niyikiza is a statistician, with a Ph.D. in mathematics and statistics, not a chemist, biochemist, pharmaceutical scientist, physician, or molecular biologist. (Filing No. 238 at 21.)
Reference
- Full Case Name
- ELI LILLY AND COMPANY v. DR. REDDY'S LABORATORIES, LTD., and Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, Inc.
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published