Plexxikon Inc. v. Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 PLEXXIKON INC., Case No. 17-cv-04405-HSG Plaintiff, ORDER DENYING MOTION TO

EXCLUDE EXPERT TESTIMONY OF

v. TED SWEENEY NOVARTIS PHARMACEUTICALS Re: Dkt. No. 206

CORPORATION,

11 Defendant. 12 Pending before the Court is Defendant Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation’s motion to exclude the testimony of Plaintiff Plexxikon Inc.’s expert Ted Sweeney. Dkt. No. 206. The Court heard argument on this motion. See Dkt. No. 341. As detailed below, the Court DENIES the motion. I. BACKGROUND This is a patent infringement case related to Plaintiff’s patents for kinase inhibitors. Plaintiff accuses Defendant’s melanoma drug Tafinlar, which Defendant acquired from GlaxoSmithKline (“GSK”) in 2015. Tafinlar works by inhibiting B-Raf, a type of kinase. As relevant to this motion, Tafinlar is approved both as a monotherapy and as a combination therapy with Mekinist, an MEK (another type of kinase) inhibitor. See Dkt.…