As regular Big Molecule Watch readers know, the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act (“BPCIA”) was signed into law as part of the Affordable Care Act on March 23, 2010, creating an abbreviated licensure pathway for “biosimilar” and “interchangeable” biological products. The BPCIA also introduced a new scheme to resolve…
On January 10, Alvotech announced that the European Commission (EC) issued a marketing authorization to its European commercialization partner, STADA, for UZPRUVO (AVT04), a biosimilar referencing STELARA (ustekinumab). The authorization covers all European Economic Area countries, as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway. UZPRUVO is the first ustekinumab biosimilar to…
Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Alexion Pharma International Operations Ltd. (collectively, “Alexion”) filed a complaint on January 3, 2024, against Samsung Bioepis Co. Ltd. (“Samsung”) in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, alleging infringement of 6 patents under the BPCIA based on Samsung’s submission of an aBLA for…
On December 7, 2023, a group of health insurers and health insurance administrators filed a class action complaint against Johnson & Johnson and Janssen Biotech, Inc. (collectively “J&J”) in the Eastern District of Virginia alleging that J&J “is unlawfully delaying the introduction of biosimilar competition for ustekinumab.” The class action…
On January 8, 2024, Merck announced its plans to acquire cancer drug developer Harpoon Therapeutics, Inc. for $23.00 per share in cash for an approximate total equity value of $680 million. Harpoon has developed a portfolio of T-cell engagers that employ the company’s Tri-specific T-cell Activating Construct (TriTAC®) platform, an…
On January 5, 2024, in litigation between REGENXBIO and Sarepta Therapeutics, Judge Richard Andrews of the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware District Court granted summary judgment for Sarepta and ruled that University of Pennsylvania’s (“Penn”) U.S. Patent No. 10,526,617 (the ’617 Patent; licensed to REGENXBIO) is invalid…
As we have previously reported, in November 2023 Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Regeneron”) filed complaints against Celltrion, Samsung Bioepis and Formycon (collectively, “the Defendants”) in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia, alleging patent infringement under the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act (“BPCIA”) based on the…
Emergency Motion for Entry of a PI Schedule Against Celltrion, Formcyon, and Samsung Bioepis On December 28, Regeneron filed emergency motions for entry of a PI schedule in its aflibercept BPCIA cases against Celltrion, Inc., Formycon AG, and Samsung Bioepis (“Samsung”). Regeneron seeks a PI schedule to “ensure an orderly…
On December 19, a German court invalidated CureVac’s messenger RNA technology patent, EP 1 857 122 B1, in a lawsuit brought by CureVac against its rival BioNTech. CureVac, a biopharmaceutical company developing messenger RNA therapeutics for COVID-19 vaccines, announced that it will appeal the decision before the German Federal Court…
As previously reported by Big Molecule Watch, trial in Regeneron’s BPCIA case against Biocon regarding Biocon’s proposed aflibercept biosimilar concluded on June 15, 2023 in the Northern District of West Virginia. The patents-at-issue are directed to formulations and dosing regimens for aflibercept, an anti-VEGF treatment for retinal disorders including age-related…