Gilead Sciences can breathe easy after an arbitration panel determined that the company Roche has no claim on its hepatitis C drug.
The panel said Roche did not establish any of their claims, so the win removes any issues that could have come up.
"This is the most important of all the litigation for Sovaldi as this was the one where Roche essentially claimed it had actual rights to the drug," said analyst Michael Yee. "While investors and we assigned a generally low probability of a Doomsday scenario, it was theoretically possible that Roche could get the rights to GILD's Sovaldi which would be a huge loss and obviously was a major long-term, legal risk factor for GILD."
Gilead acquired the rights to Sovaldi, a Hepatitis C drug, after a collaboration agreement with Pharmasset Inc., which Gilead bought in 2012.
Gilead had $3.5 billion in sales at the end of the second quarter in June. The Sovaldi treatment cost $84,000 for 12 weeks of treatment.
But its high price tag is effective. It is known to cure more than 90 percent of patients. However, the high price tag has brought controversy from insurers and governments.
The UK has recommended coverage for the medication which has incited much debate and controversy. The UK's National Institute for Health and Care Excellence said they found Sovaldi to be an "effective improvement over existing treatments." Though the price tag for Sovaldi is also less expensive - $56,000 - in the UK.
The agency recommends Sovaldi for people with genotype 1, the most common form of hepatitis C, which accounts for 46 percent of all cases in the UK. They are also recommending it for patients with genotype 3, which accounts for 43 percent of the hepatitis C sufferers.
However, the agency does not recommend the drug for everyone. For people with genotype 1 that cannot tolerate interferon, another hep C drug often taken in conjunction, the agency does not recommend coverage for Sovaldi.
The price tag for Sovaldi has come under criticism after U.S. government officials found early documents suggesting the price tag for Sovaldi to be much lower. But company officials say that the price-per-cure of the drug makes it a bargain compared to other long-term drugs.
