Sanofi and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals are suing Amgen seeking a court order stating that their eczema treatment Dupixent, which is still awaiting U.S. clearance, does not infringe on an Amgen patent that the company awarded in 2000’s, when it was attempting to develop a treatment for asthma. Even if Amgen failed to develop an asthma therapy fand therefore abandoned, the California-based biotech continues to hold the key patent.
The action taken by the two companies was intended to preempt an expected lawsuit to be brought by Amgen, which has already sued Sanofi and Regeneron over thecholesterol drug Praluent.
Amgen said in a statement that the company “does have a patent covering the product and we will defend our patent rights.”
The suit came two months after a federal judge in Delaware blocked Sanofi and Regeneron from selling Praluent because it was found to infringe Amgen’s Repatha patent.
Source: Reuters
