On February 25, 2021, Chief Judge Stark of the United States District Court for the District of Delaware ruled in favor of Venable’s client Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation against the generic defendants Torrent Pharma Inc. and Torrent Pharmaceuticals Ltd. in In re: Entresto (Sacubitril/Valsartan) Patent Litigation, MDL No. 20-2930-LPS (D. Del.). At the conclusion of oral arguments, Judge Stark ruled in Novartis’s favor, denying Torrent’s motion for judgment on the pleadings of non-infringement of U.S. Patent Nos. 8,877,938 (“the ’938 patent”) and 9,388,134 (“the ’134 patent”). The ’938 and ’134 patents cover Novartis’s Entresto® Product and its approved use.
Agreeing with Novartis, Judge Stark found that Torrent did not meet its burden of clearly proving that no material issue of fact remained to be resolved and that Torrent was entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Rather, Judge Stark found that Novartis presented plausible theories for infringement and that Novartis should be permitted to present additional evidence in support of those theories. Judge Stark further found that Novartis presented a plausible claim construction that should be addressed on a complete record during claim construction proceedings.
Jared Stringham argued the motion for Novartis with Gregory Manas, Erin Belfield, and Christopher Loh assisting. Nicholas Kallas and Christina Schwarz assisted with the non-confidential aspects of the motion.