Walsh Helps Client Amgen Win U.S. Patent Battle on Arthritis Drug
Court sides with Amgen in Dispute over Biosimilars
NEWARK, NJ, August 12, 2019 – Walsh client Amgen, Inc. prevailed in litigation filed in 2016 challenging two patents for Amgen’s arthritis drug Enbrel® (etanercept). On Friday, August 9, 2019, the Court found in favor of Amgen on all counts. Handed down in federal court in Newark, the decision ended a lawsuit in which Amgen argued that Sandoz’s biosimilar infringed on certain of Amgen’s patents. Lawyers from Walsh Pizzi O’Reilly Falanga LLP, including Liza Walsh, Marc Haefner, Christine Gannon, Eleonore Ofuso-Antwi and Colleen Maker worked on the case for Amgen along with teams of lawyers from Amgen and from Sidley Austin.
Novartis subsidiary Sandoz, which admitted infringement of Amgen’s patents, had sought to invalidate Enbrel’s patents. Sandoz had planned to launch its biosimilar drug called Erelzi sometime in 2020.
Walsh attorneys on the Amgen team were involved in all stages of fact and expert discovery. At trial, Walsh attorneys handled expert witness testimony and argued the evidence disputes between the parties to the Court.
The case is Immunex Corp. et al. v. Sandoz Inc. et al., case number 2:16-cv-01118, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey. View the Opinion.
LAW.COM reported that the patent infringement verdict was worth $10 billion following an increase in Amgen’s market cap of $10 billion following the news of the verdict.
More details on the case may be found on Law 360.