Liquidia faces a patent infringement lawsuit from UTHR regarding YUTREPIA, seeking to prevent its commercialization.
Quiver AI Summary
United Therapeutics Corporation (UTHR) has filed a lawsuit against Liquidia Corporation in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, claiming that Liquidia infringes on its U.S. Patent No. 11,357,782 ('782 patent) related to the administration of inhaled treprostinil for treating pulmonary hypertension. UTHR seeks to prevent Liquidia from commercializing its product YUTREPIA™ if it receives FDA approval. Liquidia's CEO, Dr. Roger Jeffs, expressed confidence in defending against the claims, referencing a previous invalidation of similar patents by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) and subsequent affirmations by the courts. Despite the ongoing litigation, the FDA's review timeline for YUTREPIA remains unchanged, with a goal date set for May 24, 2025.
Potential Positives
- Liquidia's ability to continue with the FDA review process for YUTREPIA remains unaffected by the patent litigation, maintaining a clear timeline toward potential approval with a goal date set for May 24, 2025.
- The company's prior success in invalidating similar patent claims strengthens its position to defend against the current allegations, suggesting confidence in their legal strategy.
- Liquidia CEO Dr. Roger Jeffs' statement underscores the company's commitment to providing alternatives for patients with pulmonary hypertension, reinforcing its dedication to patient access and support.
Potential Negatives
- Litigation filed against Liquidia by United Therapeutics could hinder the commercialization of YUTREPIA™, impacting potential revenue and market access for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension and pulmonary hypertension associated with interstitial lung disease.
- The lawsuit alleges infringement of a patent that addresses the same general subject matter as a previous patent that was invalidated, raising concerns about the validity and defensibility of Liquidia's intellectual property rights.
- The ongoing litigation could create uncertainty around the FDA approval process, even though it currently does not impact the PDUFA goal date; investors may view this as a risk to the company's future prospects.
FAQ
What is the lawsuit against Liquidia about?
The lawsuit alleges infringement of UTHR’s ‘782 patent and seeks to prevent Liquidia from commercializing YUTREPIA.
How does this affect YUTREPIA's FDA approval timeline?
The lawsuit does not impact the FDA’s ability to take final action on YUTREPIA, scheduled for May 24, 2025.
What recent legal ruling affects UTHR’s patents?
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a decision invalidating UTHR’s ‘793 patent, which shares similar claims to the ‘782 patent.
Who is leading Liquidia in this litigation?
Dr. Roger Jeffs, CEO of Liquidia, is leading the company's defense against the litigation.
What is Liquidia's focus in biopharmaceuticals?
Liquidia focuses on developing innovative therapies for rare cardiopulmonary diseases, including its lead candidate YUTREPIA.
Disclaimer: This is an AI-generated summary of a press release distributed by GlobeNewswire. The model used to summarize this release may make mistakes. See the full release here.
$LQDA Insider Trading Activity
$LQDA insiders have traded $LQDA stock on the open market 20 times in the past 6 months. Of those trades, 0 have been purchases and 20 have been sales.
Here’s a breakdown of recent trading of $LQDA stock by insiders over the last 6 months:
- ROGER JEFFS (Chief Executive Officer) has made 0 purchases and 2 sales selling 36,473 shares for an estimated $454,944.
- MICHAEL KASETA (CFO and COO) has made 0 purchases and 3 sales selling 32,744 shares for an estimated $400,256.
- RUSSELL SCHUNDLER (General Counsel) has made 0 purchases and 3 sales selling 23,420 shares for an estimated $286,276.
- RAJEEV SAGGAR (Chief Medical Officer) has made 0 purchases and 4 sales selling 14,858 shares for an estimated $189,288.
- SCOTT MOOMAW (Chief Commercial Officer) has made 0 purchases and 3 sales selling 12,314 shares for an estimated $151,008.
- JASON ADAIR (Chief Business Officer) has made 0 purchases and 5 sales selling 8,020 shares for an estimated $99,871.
To track insider transactions, check out Quiver Quantitative's insider trading dashboard.
$LQDA Hedge Fund Activity
We have seen 98 institutional investors add shares of $LQDA stock to their portfolio, and 65 decrease their positions in their most recent quarter.
Here are some of the largest recent moves:
- PATIENT SQUARE CAPITAL LP removed 5,322,161 shares (-74.1%) from their portfolio in Q4 2024, for an estimated $62,588,613
- LM ADVISORS LLC added 2,206,443 shares (+inf%) to their portfolio in Q4 2024, for an estimated $25,947,769
- INVESCO LTD. added 674,940 shares (+2675.0%) to their portfolio in Q4 2024, for an estimated $7,937,294
- WALLEYE CAPITAL LLC removed 513,058 shares (-94.6%) from their portfolio in Q4 2024, for an estimated $6,033,562
- JANUS HENDERSON GROUP PLC added 501,752 shares (+1484.5%) to their portfolio in Q4 2024, for an estimated $5,900,603
- MIRABELLA FINANCIAL SERVICES LLP added 500,000 shares (+inf%) to their portfolio in Q4 2024, for an estimated $5,880,000
- EVERSEPT PARTNERS, LP added 433,356 shares (+314.1%) to their portfolio in Q4 2024, for an estimated $5,096,266
To track hedge funds' stock portfolios, check out Quiver Quantitative's institutional holdings dashboard.
$LQDA Analyst Ratings
Wall Street analysts have issued reports on $LQDA in the last several months. We have seen 1 firms issue buy ratings on the stock, and 0 firms issue sell ratings.
Here are some recent analyst ratings:
- Scotiabank issued a "Outperform" rating on 05/05/2025
To track analyst ratings and price targets for $LQDA, check out Quiver Quantitative's $LQDA forecast page.
$LQDA Price Targets
Multiple analysts have issued price targets for $LQDA recently. We have seen 2 analysts offer price targets for $LQDA in the last 6 months, with a median target of $27.5.
Here are some recent targets:
- Greg Harrison from Scotiabank set a target price of $36.0 on 05/05/2025
- Serge Belanger from Needham set a target price of $19.0 on 01/09/2025
Full Release
- New litigation filed against Liquidia in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina alleges infringement of UTHR’s ‘782 patent and seeks to enjoin Liquidia from commercializing YUTREPIA
- ‘782 patent claims same general subject matter as UTHR’s invalidated ‘793 patent
-
Does not impact FDA’s ability to take final action on NDA for YUTREPIA on PDUFA goal date of May 24, 2025
MORRISVILLE, N.C., May 12, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ: LQDA), a biopharmaceutical company developing innovative therapies for patients with rare cardiopulmonary disease, today announced that United Therapeutics Corporation (UTHR) filed a complaint on May 9, 2025, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina (Case No. 1:25-cv-00368) against Liquidia alleging infringement of U.S. Patent No. 11,357,782 (the ‘782 patent). Additionally, the complaint seeks to enjoin Liquidia from commercializing YUTREPIA™ (treprostinil) inhalation powder if approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and pulmonary hypertension associated with interstitial lung disease (PH-ILD).
Dr. Roger Jeffs, CEO, Liquidia said: “We are not surprised by UTHR’s repeated, last-minute attempts to deny PAH and PH-ILD patients access to an alternative therapy. We have invalidated similar claims covering the treatment of pulmonary hypertension patients with inhaled treprostinil in the past and will continue to defend the rights of patients suffering with these critical illnesses to choose the therapy that works best for them.”
The ‘782 patent, which issued on June 14, 2022, arises out of the same patent family as U.S. Patent No. 10,716,793 (the ‘793 patent) and claims the same general method of administering inhaled treprostinil to pulmonary hypertension patients. As disclosed in July 2022, the ‘793 patent was held to be invalid in a proceeding before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). The PTAB’s decision was affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in December 2023. The United States Supreme Court rejected UTHR’s petition for a writ of certiorari, thereby upholding PTAB’s decision which found that all claims of the ‘793 patent are unpatentable due to prior art as final and not subject to further appeal.
UTHR is currently not seeking any injunction against the FDA to prevent final approval of the New Drug Application (NDA) for YUTREPIA. As previously announced, the FDA set a Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) goal date of May 24, 2025.
About Liquidia Corporation
Liquidia Corporation is a biopharmaceutical company developing innovative therapies for patients with rare cardiopulmonary disease. The company’s current focus spans the development and commercialization of products in pulmonary hypertension and other applications of its proprietary PRINT
®
Technology. PRINT enabled the creation of Liquidia’s lead candidate, YUTREPIA™ (treprostinil) inhalation powder, an investigational drug for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and pulmonary hypertension associated with interstitial lung disease (PH-ILD). The company is also developing L606, an investigational sustained-release formulation of treprostinil administered twice-daily with a next-generation nebulizer, and currently markets generic Treprostinil Injection for the treatment of PAH. To learn more about Liquidia, please visit
www.liquidia.com
.
Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release may include forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements contained in this press release other than statements of historical facts, including statements regarding our future results of operations and financial position, our strategic and financial initiatives, our business strategy and plans and our objectives for future operations, are forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements, including statements regarding clinical trials, clinical studies and other clinical work (including the funding therefor, anticipated patient enrollment, safety data, study data, trial outcomes, timing or associated costs), regulatory applications and related submission contents and timelines, including the potential for final FDA approval of the NDA for YUTREPIA, the timeline or outcome related to patent litigation in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware or the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, including rehearings or appeals of decisions in any such proceedings, the issuance of patents by the USPTO and our ability to execute on our strategic or financial initiatives, involve significant risks and uncertainties and actual results could differ materially from those expressed or implied herein. The invalidity of one patent is not necessarily determinative as to the validity of a second patent, even if the patents arise out of the same patent family or claim similar subject matter. The words “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “target,” “would,” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. We have based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends that we believe may affect our financial condition, results of operations, business strategy, short-term and long-term business operations and objectives and financial needs. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks discussed in our filings with the SEC, as well as a number of uncertainties and assumptions. Moreover, we operate in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment and our industry has inherent risks. New risks emerge from time to time. It is not possible for our management to predict all risks, nor can we assess the impact of all factors on our business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements we may make. In light of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the future events discussed in this press release may not occur and actual results could differ materially and adversely from those anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements. Nothing in this press release should be regarded as a representation by any person that these goals will be achieved, and we undertake no duty to update our goals or to update or alter any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Contact Information
Investors:
Jason Adair
Chief Business Officer
919.328.4350
[email protected]
Media:
Patrick Wallace
Director, Corporate Communications
919.328.4383
[email protected]