A federal jury in Texas has ordered Abbott Laboratories to pay $1.67 billion to Centocor Ortho Biotech Inc., a unit of Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), for violating a patent related to the arthritis treatment Remicade.

J&J introduced the infringement suit, alleging that Abbott’s rheumatoid arthritis therapy Humira violated a patent for Centocor Ortho Biotech Inc.’s rival treatment Remicade.

“We are pleased that the jury has ruled in our favor in the patent litigation case against Abbott,” said Kim Taylor, president, Centocor Ortho Biotech Inc in a statement.

The J&J unit said in a written release Monday the patent relates to the company’s anti-TNF class of arthritis treatments, and is co-owned by New York University.

J&J’s Remicade helps patients with inflammatory disorders, targeting specific proteins in the body’s immune system and reducing symptoms in diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis.

Remicade sales were $1.03 billion in Johnson & Johnson’s first quarter.

“We are particularly gratified that the jury recognized our valuable intellectual property, finding our patent both valid and infringed,” Taylor also said in the statement.

Meanwhile, Abbott’s Humira is a biologic that helps block the bad effects of tumor necrosis factor, or TNF, and reduces signs and symptoms of moderate to severe polyarticular Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis, or JIA.

Humira is approved to treat six indications: rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, Crohn's disease, psoriasis and juvenile idiopathic arthritis.

“We are disappointed in this verdict, and we are confident in the merits of our case and that we will prevail on appeal,” said Scott Stoffel, Abbott’s director of external communications.  

Stoffel added that only when Humira was nearing its approval in 2002 did J&J amend the patent at issue in the litigation.

“Johnson & Johnson acknowledged at trial that it did not start working on a fully-human antibody until 1997 -- two years after Abbott discovered Humira and one year after Abbott filed its patent applications for Humira,” he said.