The Delaware Court of Chancery on Wednesday ruled that drugmaker Gilead Sciences Inc. can avoid a $50 million milestone payment to shareholders of a company it bought in 2011, finding that a drug it acquired from Calistoga Pharmaceuticals Inc. did not win the kind of broad approval needed to trigger the post-closing bonus.
In a 78-page memorandum opinion, Chancellor Andre G. Bouchard rejected Shareholder Representative Services’ argument that a European regulatory body had granted “disease-level” approval for Zydelig, used to treat patients suffering from some types of blood cancers.
