Statement regarding U.S. Supreme Court action on patent lawsuit
We are very pleased that the U.S. Supreme Court has denied the petitioners’ request for further appellate review of the determination that Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientist Gordon Freeman and a collaborator are joint inventors of the key patents covering PD-1/PD-L1 cancer immunotherapy. That determination is now final, and Dana-Farber is the co-owner of all eight patents issued to Ono Pharmaceutical Company and Dr. Tasuku Honjo claiming this technology.
From the day Dana-Farber filed suit in 2015, we never doubted that Dr. Freeman was wrongly omitted from the patents and should be fully recognized for his many contributions to the conception of these path-breaking new cancer treatments. Every court that has considered the inventorship of the claimed treatment methods, from the District Court to the U.S. Court of Appeals to the Supreme Court, has now agreed.
Dana-Farber is actively seeking to license the technology, which is embodied in several of the newest immunotherapy drugs, to additional companies developing PD-1 and PDL-1 cancer therapies, in furtherance of Dana-Farber’s mission to ensure that new therapies reach patients in need as quickly as possible.
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