Erasca, Inc. is a clinical stage oncology company developing drugs focused on RAS/MAPK pathway-driven cancers.  In January of this year, the company announced encouraging early clinical data for one of its candidates, ERAS-0015.  Then, in late April, the company received a letter from a potential competitor, Revolution Medicines, Inc. (“RevMed”).  The letter alleged that Erasca’s ERAS-0015 candidate infringes RevMed’s patent, that Erasca misappropriated trade secrets and that Erasca improperly compared pre-clinical data for its candidate with RevMed’s drug.  How concerned should Erasca’s investors be of RevMed’s allegations?

We previously blogged about ViiV Healthcare’s ($GSK) patent lawsuit against Gilead ($GILD) when the case commenced in February 2018.  In the case, ViiV alleges that Gilead’s Biktarvy® infringes ViiV’s ‘385 patent.  The case is heading for trial in late 2020.  Before that, however, Gilead has moved to dismiss the case outright before trial.  Will Gilead succeed?  Whether or not Gilead’s motion is granted, the issues outlined below will likely form the crux of the dispositive issues in dispute.