Milbank LLP secured an important victory on behalf of Tris Pharma, Inc. in the District of Delaware in a lawsuit against Actavis on patents that cover Tris’s Quillivant XR® product. Quillivant XR® is the first liquid long-acting treatment for ADHD (Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder).
In 2014, Actavis advised Tris that it was seeking FDA approval to immediately market a generic version of Quillivant XR®. Tris filed suit and a bench trial was completed in February 2017. In September 2017, the district court held that the asserted patents were invalid. Tris appealed portions of the district court judgment relating to three patents. On November 20, 2018, the Federal Circuit vacated the district court’s decision “[b]ecause [the] district court’s obviousness decision lacks the requisite fact-finding, and because the district court erred in rejecting Tris’s evidence of objective indicia of nonobviousness” and remanded. On remand, the district court requested further briefing from the parties first, in 2019, on invalidity and, in 2020, on infringement.
On November 30, 2020, the district court ruled for Tris on both validity and infringement. Specifically, the district court found that all of the asserted claims are not invalid and that Actavis directly and indirectly infringes each of the asserted claims. This ruling will delay Actavis from commercializing its generic version of Quillivant XR® at least until 2031, when the infringed patents expire.
The Milbank team representing Tris was led by Litigation & Arbitration partners Errol Taylor and Lauren Drake, and included Litigation & Arbitration associates Jordan Fernandes and Monica Arnold.
