UGA foundation, inventor settle long-running patent dispute

The University of Georgia (UGA) Research Foundation has reached an out-of-court settlement in a long legal battle with former UGA researcher Renee Kaswan, DVM. The $20.2 million settlement ends a seven-year dispute over money UGA received from a pharmaceutical company to market Kaswan’s invention, the prescription treatment Restasis, which alleviates chronically dry eyes. The pharmaceutical company Allergan bought the right to develop and market the drug from the research foundation in the 1990s, but Kaswan said in court that UGA lost more than $200 million in fees from the company in 2003 by negotiating a new deal for the drug without her knowledge. The deal gave UGA more money up front, but a lot less in the long run, according to Kaswan.

UGA had little comment on the settlement. “The University of Georgia Research Foundation is pleased that it has reached a settlement agreement with Dr. Renee Kaswan,” UGA lawyer Edward Tolley said in a prepared statement. “We believe the $20.2 million to be fair to both parties, and we wish Dr. Kaswan the best as she continues her academic research.” Under the settlement, Kaswan agrees to release both the drug company and the research foundation from future claims, although Kaswan maintains she’s still in the right. UGA just wore her down, and she wants to move on with her life, she says. “There’s no way they won this case on its merits,” says Kaswan, a former professor in the UGA College of Veterinary Medicine’s small animal medicine department. “They didn’t really win. They just beat me.” The big winner is Allergan, which has racked up more than $1 billion in sales for Restasis, she adds. Source:  http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/040310/uga_600934241.shtml.