On January 4, 2022, the District Court for the District of Delaware granted Hikma Pharmaceuticals USA Inc.’s (“Hikma”) motion to dismiss Amarin Pharma Inc.’s (“Amarin”) infringement claims, finding that Hikma’s “skinny label” for its generic heart drug, icosapent ethyl, did not induce infringement of Amarin’s three patents. This decision comes on the heels of the
District Court
Getting Lost in the Thicket: AbbVie Wields Its Expansive Humira® Patent Portfolio Against Alvotech’s Adalimumab Biosimilar
In the most recent of a series of litigations by AbbVie against manufacturers seeking to market biosimilar versions of Humira®, the world’s most profitable drug, AbbVie initiated an action against Alvotech in the district court for the Northern District of Illinois on April 27, 2021, after Alvotech requested approval of its biosimilar, AVT02, a biosimilar…
7th Circuit Hears Oral Arguments in Humira “Patent Thicket” Antitrust Case
On February 25, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit heard oral arguments in UFCW Local 1500 Welfare Fund v. AbbVie Inc. (Case No. 20-2402), a case appealed from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois by a group of Humira buyers (including consumer groups, drug wholesalers, and unions)…
Uncertain Future for Skinny Labels as Federal Circuit Panel Agrees to Rehearing
A panel of the Federal Circuit agreed on February 9, 2021, to rehear arguments in a case between GlaxoSmithKline LLC (“GSK”) and Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc (“Teva”) regarding Teva’s generic to GSK’s carvedilol product, Coreg®. As discussed below and in our previous post, the three-judge panel previously held in a 2-1 decision in October…
Does the Term “Human Antibody” Include Humanized Antibodies?
In the context of Immunex’s patent on IL-4 antibodies, the Federal Circuit says yes.
On October 13, 2020, the Federal Circuit affirmed the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (the “Board”) final written decision in IPR2017-01884, holding invalid all claims of U.S. Patent No. 8,679,487 (“the ’487 patent”) assigned to Immunex. The ‘487 patent is drawn…
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…
Time to Rethink “Consisting Essentially of” as a Claim Limitation
For decades, courts have construed the transitional phrase “consisting essentially of” to mean that the scope of a claim is limited to the specified materials or steps “and those that do not materially affect the basic and novel characteristic(s)” of the claimed invention. In re Herz, 537 F.2d 549, 551-52, 190 USPQ 461, 463 (CCPA…
Federal Circuit Upholds Panel’s Noninfringement Ruling in Amgen v. Sandoz Appeal
As we previously reported, earlier this year the Federal Circuit affirmed a district court’s finding that Sandoz’s ZARXIO filgrastim biosimilar and proposed pegfilgrastim biosimilar do not infringe Amgen’s patents. The patents-at-issue were Amgen’s U.S. Patent Nos. 8,940,878 (“the ’878 patent”) and 6,162,427 (“the ’427 patent”). The ’872 patent is directed towards methods of purifying…
The Third Time is the Charm for Sanofi in its IPR Challenge of Immunex’s ʼ487 Patent
On February 14, 2019, the PTAB issued final written decisions in two separate IPRs filed by Sanofi-Aventis, Genzyme Corp., and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (collectively “Sanofi”) against U.S. Patent No. 8,679,487 (“the ʼ487 patent”) assigned to Immunex Corporation (“Immunex”). Claim 1 of the ʼ487 patent is the only independent claim, and it is directed to “an isolated…
Sandoz Files Declaratory Judgment of Non-Infringement For Filgrastim-Related Patent
On February 21, 2019, Sandoz Inc. (“Sandoz”) filed suit against Amgen Inc. and Amgen Manufacturing Limited (collectively “Amgen”) seeking declaratory judgment of non-infringement and invalidity of Amgen’s U.S. Patent No. 9,643,997 (“the ʼ997 patent”). The ʼ997 patent is directed to methods of purifying a protein expressed in a non-native limited solubility form in a non-mammalian…