Purdue Pharma Patent Suit Against Collegium Survives Dismissal

An agreement between Purdue Pharma L.P. and Assertio Therapeutics Inc. that forbade Collegium NF LLC from selling Nucynta doesn’t actually prevent Collegium from selling the pain-relief drug.

The doctrine of patent exhaustion allows Collegium to resell the drug after a licensed purchase from Assertio, the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware said June 19.

But questions remained as to whether Assertio transferred the drug’s title to Collegium, preventing the court from dismissing the case.

Purdue sued Collegium for infringing three patents related to Nucynta, and alleged that Collegium induced its supplier Assertio to infringe as well. As part ...