An ICC arbitration tribunal determined that the claimant did not materially breach its license agreement with the respondent, leaving the agreement in full effect.
Counsel for the claimant, a specialty pharmaceutical company, retained Cornerstone Research to support pharmaceutical industry expert Brian Reisetter of RHS Inc. and economics expert Vivek Mani of Cornerstone Research in a matter before the ICC International Court of Arbitration in London.
The claimant had licensed North American rights to a drug in development from the respondent. Several years later, the respondent alleged the claimant had failed to use commercially reasonable efforts to develop and commercialize the drug in Canada and the United States. The claimant disputed the validity of the notice and initiated arbitration proceedings to determine whether it was in material breach of the license agreement.
Dr. Reisetter evaluated whether the development and commercialization decisions of the claimant were consistent with industry practice and were reasonable in light of the risks the claimant faced. Mr. Mani assessed the lost revenues estimates of the respondent’s experts.
The arbitration tribunal determined that the claimant did not materially breach the license agreement, leaving the agreement in full effect. As a result, the claimant retained all North American development and commercialization rights to the product.