Centocor Ortho Biotech Inc announced that a federal jury has returned a verdict of $1.67 billion against Abbott Laboratories in a patent infringement suit.

"We are pleased that the jury has ruled in our favour in the patent litigation case against Abbott," said Kim Taylor, president, Centocor Ortho Biotech Inc. The patent in question relates to the company's anti-TNF class of arthritis treatments, and is co-owned by New York University and Centocor, for which Centocor is the exclusive licensee.

"We are particularly gratified that the jury recognized our valuable intellectual property, finding our patent both valid and infringed. We will continue to assert intellectual property rights for our immunology therapies, as they offer significant advances in treatment for patients with a number of immune mediated inflammatory diseases," Taylor added.