Jury awards Merck $2.5B in Gilead patent dispute

A federal jury ordered Gilead Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) to pay Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE:MRK) $2.5 billion in damages in an HCV patent infringement lawsuit. According to the jury's verdict, the damages are based on a 10% royalty rate for Gilead's U.S. sales for Sovaldi sofosbuvir and Harvoni ledipasvir/sofosbuvir through August 2016.

Idenix Pharmaceuticals Inc. filed the suit in 2013. Merck acquired Idenix in 2014...