
A federal judge in Texas added 23 percent to an already-$482 million judgment against a Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) subsidiary, Cordis Corp., in a patent infringement lawsuit over its flagship Cypher drug-eluting stent.
It’s the latest blow to an already beleaguered Johnson & Johnson, which is struggling to manage a string of damaging recalls issued by its medical device and over-the-counter medicine divisions.
Judge T. John Ward of the U.S. District Court for Eastern Texas upheld a jury award of $482 million and added $111.4 million in prejudgment interest to the damages already won by Dr. Bruce Saffran.
When the original jury decision dropped in January, Cordis said it was "disappointed" and planned to take the case to an appeals court.
Saffran, a New Jersey physician who owns the patent for "Method and Apparatus for Managing Macromolecular Distribution," also won a $432 million verdict against Boston Scientific Corp. (NYSE:BSX) in 2008. He sued Boston Scientific in 2005, accusing the company of infringement via its Taxus stent. A Texas jury agreed and awarded $432 million to Saffran.
BSX appealed the decision and the two sides settled in March 2009. Boston Scientific logged a $50 million pre-tax charge during the first quarter of 2009 due to the settlement, according to a filing with the federal Securities & Exchange Commission.
A lawsuit Saffran filed against Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) in 2009 is still pending.