Merck in Keytruda Patent Dispute with Johns Hopkins

Merck has filed suit in Maryland federal court claiming that Johns Hopkins University (JHU) improperly obtained patents that emerged from a research collaboration between the two for Merck’s cancer drug Keytruda (pembrolizumab). The suit says Merck and JHU partnered to design and conduct a clinical study administering Keytruda to cancer patients having tumors that had the genetic biomarker known as microsatellite instability-high or were mismatch repair deficient.

The clinical study was successful, the suit says, in part due to significant contributions made by Merck. It reports that after the study ended, JHU obtained issuance of U.S. patents citing the joint research study and inaccurately claiming that the purported inventions arose before, and independent of, the collaboration with Merck. The suit also claims that JHU improperly exclusively licensed the patents to others and tried to use the patents to demand payments from Merck for use of Keytruda.