Below are some highlights from first quarter 2022 earnings reports recently released by biologics and biosimilars companies: Biogen: Last week, Biogen reported total quarterly revenues of $2,532 million, and biosimilar revenue of $194 million decreased 5% versus the prior year. As reflected by the assumption in the Company’s Full Year…
Last week Pfizer filed a lawsuit in a federal court of Australia against respondents Samsung Bioepis, Merck, Sharp & Dohme, Organon, and Arrow, to halt sales of their biosimilar BRENZYS (etanercept). Pfizer alleges that the respondents infringe Australian Patent No. 2005280034, titled “Production of polypeptides,” with claims directed to cell…
On April 13, 2022, Amneal Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced that the FDA approved its BLA for bevacizumab-maly, a biosimilar of Roche’s AVASTIN. The product will be marketed under the proprietary name ALYMSYS and represents the third bevacizumab biosimilar approved in the U.S, following Pfizer’s ZIRABEV (bevacizumab-bvzr) in 2019 and Amgen’s MVASI…
In their respective third quarter financial results, Amgen and Pfizer both announced plans to seek interchangeable status for select biosimilars. Amgen announced that patients are currently being enrolled in Phase 3 studies to support interchangeability designation in the U.S. for biosimilars of AMJEVITA (adalimumab) and ABP 654 (ustekinumab). Pfizer also…
On September 2, 2021, the parties in the Amgen v. Hospira (D. Del., No. 18-1064) Neupogen®/filgrastim litigation submitted a stipulation and proposed order to dismiss all claims and counterclaims in the litigation, with prejudice. The Court (Judge Connolly) has not yet entered the order of dismissal on the docket. The…
Last week, Pfizer announced that it will acquire Trillium Therapeutics, a clinical stage immune-oncology company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Under the agreement, Pfizer reported that it “will acquire all outstanding shares of Trillium not already owned by Pfizer for an implied equity value of $2.26 billion, or $18.50 per share,…
On July 29, 2021, the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) released a statement urging the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to prohibit Insurance companies from requiring ophthalmologists to use new biosimilar drugs as alternatives to Avastin for treatment in eye diseases. The statement alleges that certain large healthcare…
On July 20, 2021, after nearly four years of litigation, Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and Pfizer have agreed to dismiss all claims asserted in the antitrust suit brought by Pfizer in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania regarding Remicade (infliximab). Remicade is an immunosuppressant that is used to treat Crohn’s disease,…
On June 16, 2021, the District Court for the District of Delaware issued a claim construction order construing a key term in the ongoing patent dispute between Amgen and Hospira over Hospira’s proposed biosimilar of Amgen’s Neulasta® (pegfilgrastim). In the Order, the Court construed the term “between about 0.1 M…
At the end of last month, Judge Connolly denied defendants Hospira and Pfizer’s motion to dismiss following a telephone conference with the parties. We previously reported back in February 2020 that Amgen sued Pfizer and its affiliate Hospira for patent infringement of U.S. Patent No. 8,273,707 (“’707 patent”) based on…