On March 1, 2019, Novartis sued Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Janssen for allegedly presenting false and misleading data about its plaque psoriasis drug Tremfya® (guselkumab). Novartis alleges that its Cosentyx® (secukinumab) drug, which is also indicated for the treatment of plaque psoriasis, competes with Tremfya®. Novartis claims that Janssen failed to…
On February 28, 2019, the FDA approved Genentech’s Herceptin Hylecta (trastuzumab and hyaluronidase-oysk). According to a press release from Roche, Genentech’s parent company: “This new treatment includes the same monoclonal antibody as intravenous Herceptin® (trastuzumab) in combination with recombinant human hyaluronidase PH20, an enzyme that helps to deliver trastuzumab under…
We are excited to share a video produced in collaboration with Bristows LLP focused on the areas of biosimilars litigation and regulation in the U.S. and EU/UK. In this video , Overview of Differences Between Governing Schemes for Biosimilars, Dom Adair, Partner at Bristows and Rob Cerwinski, Partner at Goodwin…
On February 25, 2019, a jury in the District of Delaware made findings related to the validity of two of Amgen’s patents (U.S. Patent Nos. 8,829,165 and 8,859,741) covering its cholesterol-lowering drug Repatha® (evolocumab). The jury found Sanofi and Regeron failed to demonstrate that at least some claims of the…
Below are some highlights of recent news in biosimilar development: Earlier this week, Mylan and Revance Therapeutics, who are collaborating in developing a biosimilar of BOTOX (onabotulinumtoxinA), reported on their quarterly earnings calls that they participated in an initial advisory meeting with FDA at which the agency provided guidance on…
On February 21, 2019, Sandoz initiated a lawsuit against Amgen in the Northern District of California seeking a declaration that its biosimilar filgrastim and pegfilgrastim products do not infringe the Amgen’s ’997 patent. The ’997 patent relates to a method of protein purification and is in the same patent family…
Following the Celltrion and Pfizer settlements of the trastuzumab litigation, the Federal Circuit granted the request of the Director of the PTO to intervene under 35 U.S.C. § 143 (i.e., defend a PTAB decision when a petitioner withdraws on appeal) in the Genentech appeals of final written decisions of unpatentability in Case…
Earlier this week, Sandoz announced the launch of its adalimumab biosimilar, HYRIMOZ, in 40-mg doses for subcutaneous injection in either a syringe or prefilled pen, in Spain. As we reported earlier, Sandoz previously launched HYRIMOZ in the UK in October 2018. Samsung Bioepsis and Mylan also launched adalimumab biosimilars in…
Last week, Health Canada announced that biologic drugs, including biosimilars, will be identified “by their unique brand name and non-proprietary (common) name, without the addition of a product-specific suffix. Both the brand name and non-proprietary name should be used throughout the medication use process so that biologics that share the…
Pfizer announced today that the European Commission has approved its Avastin® (bevacizumab) biosimilar ZIRABEV™ for the treatment of metastatic carcinoma of the colon or rectum, metastatic breast cancer, unresectable advanced, metastatic or recurrent non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), advanced and/or metastatic renal cell cancer and persistent, recurrent or metastatic carcinoma…