City of Hope-Genentech Patent Case Goes to Jury
City of Hope National Medical Center’s breach-of-contract case against Genentech Inc. went to a Los Angeles County jury after closing arguments in which lawyers for each side traded accusations of deceit and greed.
City of Hope, based in Duarte, claims that Genentech owes it $457million in royalty payments on products stemming from licensing deals on a City of Hope invention, a method of producing drugs in bacteria. Genentech received the patents in 1976.
For the record:
12:00 a.m. May 18, 2002 For The Record
Los Angeles Times Saturday May 18, 2002 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 9 inches; 327 words Type of Material: Correction
Patents--A story in Friday’s Business section incorrectly stated that Genentech received patents on a method to produce drugs from City of Hope National Medical Center in 1976. The patents actually were acquired in 1980.
City of Hope claims that the South San Francisco-based biotechnology company hid the deals from it for nearly 20 years in order to avoid paying royalties.
Genentech claims that City of Hope is trying to rewrite the contract because the patents expire next year. The company said it has paid City of Hope $302 million in royalties on the two drugs that are covered by the contract, human insulin and human growth hormone.
This is the second time the civil case was tried. The first trial ended in a hung jury.
