Kenilworth, N.J.-based Merck & Co. received $2.54 billion in royalties on Thursday through a patent lawsuit against Gilead Sciences' best-selling hepatitis C drugs Sovaldi and Harvoni, reports Reuters.
Following an almost two-week long trial, a federal jury in Delaware ruled Merck's patent for hepatitis C treatments was valid. Merck acquired the drug patent when it purchased Idenix Pharmaceuticals in 2014.
In 2015, Gilead Science's hit almost $20 billion in revenue from Harvoni and Sovaldi. The jury's award represents a 10 percent royalty rate from sales of the drugs through this August, according to the report.
Michele Rest, a spokeswoman for Foster City, Calif.-based Gilead Sciences, said the drugmaker disagrees with the verdict and plans to file an appeal, according to the report.
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