Ono Pharma To $44M To Settle Patent Suit With Nobel Laureate

Ono Pharmaceutical Co. said it has agreed to pay 5 billion yen ($44 million) to Japanese Nobel laureate in medicine Tasuku Honjo and donate 23 billion yen to a research fund at his university to settle a lawsuit on cancer drug patent royalties.

Photo Insert: Japanese Nobel laureate in medicine Tasuku Honjo

The settlement, reached at the Osaka District Court, resolves the suit in which Honjo, a distinguished professor at Kyoto University and 2018 Nobel Prize winner, had sought about 26.2 billion yen in patent royalties from the company that sells the cancer treatment drug Opdivo, developed based on discoveries by his research team.

"We were able to reach a settlement I feel satisfied with. I would like to support fundamental research with the funds that we will get back from the company," Honjo said through his lawyer.

According to the settlement terms, moving forward, the company will pay royalties of 1 percent or less to Honjo as per their initial contract. In a news conference Friday, Ono Pharmaceutical President Gyo Sagara also welcomed the settlement, which he said "fully resolved" issues between the company and Honjo.

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