Asahi Kasei Pharma Corp. v. Actelion Ltd.

222 Cal.App. 4th 945 (2014)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

P created Fasudil, a drug which P sought to market in the U.S. for treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension. P entered into a licensing and development agreement CoTherix, a California-based biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing products for the treatment of cardiovascular disease. D is a Swiss pharmaceutical company that markets a PAH treatment drug, bosentan (under the trade name Tracleer), and holds the dominant share of the relevant market. D, through a subsidiary, acquired all of the stock of CoTherix, and concurrently notified P that CoTherix would discontinue development of Fasudil for “business and commercial reasons.” P sued Ds for interference with P's prospective economic advantage. The jury returned a unanimous liability verdict against Ds, awarding nearly $546.9 million in compensatory damages, and finding that all Ds acted with malice, oppression or fraud. The jury awarded punitive damages against the Individual Defendants. The trial court denied a motion for new trial on damages, conditioned on P's acceptance of a remittitur of certain damage categories. P accepted the remittitur. Ds appealed.