Merck seeks royalties on sales of Sovaldi (sofosbuvir) and Harvoni (sofosbuvir + ledipasvir) due to alleged infringement of its patents by Gilead Sciences

A US Federal Court in San Jose has found that Sovaldi (sofosbuvir) and Harvoni (sofosbuvir + ledipasvir) from Gilead Sciences have infringed patents belonging to Merck Inc. Gilead is opposing the claims which are now before a jury. Merck argues that Pharmasset (which was acquired by Gilead Sciences) copied the Merck patent published in 2002. Gilead counters that Pharmasset was working on the compound a year earlier. Merck seeks a 10% royalty on Sovaldi and Harvoni sales but not a ban on sales of the drugs. Other patent infringement claims have been made against Gilead Sciences by Idenix (acquired by Merck in 2015) and by AbbVie.