SAN FRANCISCO — The First District Court of Appeal has affirmed a $400 million judgment against a Swiss pharmaceutical company for using a corporate acquisition to snuff out a competitor’s potentially lifesaving drug.
Justice Terence Bruiniers led a unanimous panel upholding the award, which includes $30 million in punitive damages against three individual company executives. Jurors could have reasonably concluded that leaders of Actelion Pharmaceuticals “sabotaged” the development of fasudil, “a drug with the potential for alleviating the suffering of patients with life-threatening and debilitating diseases from reaching the market,” Bruiniers wrote.
