Biogen Loses Appeal in Patent Fight Seeking Royalties on Rebif

Biogen Inc. lost an appeals court ruling in its bid to seek billions of dollars in royalties from the sale of Merck KGaA’s Rebif multiple sclerosis drug.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Monday ordered that a jury verdict invalidating a Biogen patent be reinstated. The trial judge in New Jersey had set aside the verdict and granted a new trial in the case.

Biogen said it invented a way to make and administer a protein known as beta-interferon, which slows the physical deterioration caused by multiple sclerosis. It claimed that it lost billions of ...