A bitter battle over insulin gene
Marshall, E.
Science 277(5329): 1028-1030
1997
ISSN/ISBN: 0036-8075 PMID: 9289846 Document Number: 479704
A seven-year patent battle between the University of California (UC) and Eli Lilly and Company ended recently with $12 million in legal bills for the university. The case arises from the first successful cloning of the rat insulin gene by biologists at UC, San Francisco, which was reported in the June 17, 1977, issue of Science. In 1990, UC sued Lilly because the company, which is the largest insulin maker in America, refused to honor the university's patents on this and other insulin discoveries. The recent ruling, by Judge Alan Lourie of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, upheld key portions of a decision by U.S. District Court Judge S. Hugh Dillin, who had ruled in favor of Lilly in December 1995. Nonetheless, the appeals court dismissed a key Dillin finding that UC won its patents partly through "inequitable conduct." A sidebar discusses the possible implications of the ruling.