The University of Alabama-Birmingham announced last week that its research foundation will collect at least $11 million from a settlement with a drug company over disputed pharmaceutical patents. The payment will be coming from Massachusetts-based Idenix Pharmaceuticals, which UAB sued last year. The university claimed a former professor who founded Idenix made off with university patents to treat hepatitis, herpes, HIV, and other viruses. The lawsuit charged that former faculty member Jean Pierre Sommadossi formed Idenix after learning about promising viral research conducted by a UAB colleague, and that the university owns all patents that stemmed from the research. The drug maker has already ponied up $4 million to the university in up-front payments to settle the matter, and UAB will receive a 20% royalty on worldwide sales of telbivudine, an antiviral drug used to treat hepatitis B. The drug is marketed under the trade name TYZEKA by pharma giant Novartis, which paid $255 million to acquire 51% of Idenix in 2003. Minimum payments required through 2019, when the agreement expires, total $11 million, but could go much higher depending on sales of the agent. Go to: The Birmingham News

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