The COVID-19 relief and spending bill signed into law on December 27, 2020, includes a provision – Division BB, Title III, Subtitle C, Section 325[1] – that adds a new paragraph 9 to 42 U.S.C. §262(k) requiring the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (“FDA”) to provide more information to the public about patented biological
D. Lawson Allen
Federal Circuit Decision Raises Concern over Whether Skinny Labels are Sufficient to Avoid Induced Infringement
The Federal Circuit recently held[1] in a 2-1 decision that there was substantial evidence supporting a jury finding that Teva was liable for induced infringement for an indication carved out of its skinny label for its generic version of carvedilol.
The case concerned GSK’s United States Patent No. 4,503,067 (“the ’067 patent”) and Reissue…
FDA Approves Rapid-Acting Insulin
The FDA approved Eli Lilly’s Lyumjev™ (insulin lispro-aabc injection, 100 units/mL and 200 units/mL) last month, which is a new rapid-acting insulin indicated to improve glycemic control in adults with type 1 and type 2 diabetes. The approval was based on two phase 3 clinical trials based on comparison of Lyumjev and Humalog (insulin lispro…
FDA Approves First Biosimilars of 2020
As previously reported, the FDA had yet to approve any biosimilars in 2020 as of June 9, despite a growing pipeline. Since then, the FDA has approved two biosimilar products.
On June 11, Pfizer Inc. announced the FDA’s approval of Nyvepria™ (pegfilgrastim-apgf), a biosimilar of Amgen’s Neulasta™. Nyvepria is indicated “to decrease the incidence of…
Celltrion’s and Hospira’s Production of Infliximab Biosimilars Does Not Infringe Remicide®-Related Patent
In a 104-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Mark L. Wolf granted summary judgment in favor of Celltrion and Hospira, finding that a doctrine of equivalents claim made by Janssen Biotech (“Janssen”) with respect to a Remicide®-related patent would ensnare the prior art.
Janssen makes Remicade®, a biologic drug whose active ingredient is the monoclonal…
PTAB Denies Inter Partes Review of Rituxan® Patents
The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“the Board”) has decided not to institute inter partes review (“IPR”) on two patents owned by Biogen and Genentech. Pfizer, Inc. (“Pfizer”) filed two petitions asserting that the patents, U.S. Patent Nos. 8,206,711 (“the ’711 patent”) and 7,682,612 (“the ’612 patent”), were invalid as obvious in view of prior…
District Judge Dismisses Amgen’s Declaratory Judgment Suit Over Avastin® Biosimilar
On February 2, 2018, U.S. District Judge George H. Wu granted Genentech’s motion to dismiss a complaint brought by Amgen in the Central District of California seeking a declaratory judgment of non-infringement, invalidity, and unenforceability of twenty-seven patents related to Genentech’s cancer treatment biologic, Avastin® (bevacizumab).[i]
Judge Wu issued a tentative decision on January…
Amgen Files Petition for Rehearing En Banc of Praluent® Written Description and Enablement Issues
In October, a Federal Circuit panel vacated a permanent injunction against Sanofi and Regeneron’s Praluent® and remanded the proceeding to the district court for a new trial on the defendants’ written description and enablement defenses.[i] The panel had held that the district court erred by (i) excluding the defendants’ evidence of written description and…
New Report Says Biosimilars Could Save $54 Billion in Biologics Spending
According to a new report by RAND Corporation, biosimilars could save $54 billion in healthcare spending on biologics over the next ten years.[i] The report’s key findings include:
- The estimated cost savings potential of biosimilars is $54 billion over the next decade, or about 3% of total estimated biologic spending during the same period,
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