Monday, February 25, 2013

Novartis Files Patent Infringement Case against Generics



Plaintiff: Novartis Pharmaceuticals

Defendants: Actavis, Apotex, Bedford Labs, Dr. Reddy’s Lab, Emcure Pharma, Hospira, Pharmaceutics International, Pharmaforce, Sagent Pharmaceuticals, ACS Dobfar, Strides, Agila Specialties, Sun Pharma, Caraco Pharmaceuticals, Teva Parenteral Medicines, Wockhardt

A case (2:13-cv-01028) was filed for patent infringement by Novartis against the above defendants on Feb 20, 2013 in the District Court of New Jersey. The case includes patents US7932241 (Pharmaceutical products comprising bisphosphonates), US8052987 (Method of administering bisphosphonates) and US8324189 (Use of zolendronate for the manufacture of a medicament for the treatment of bone metabolism diseases). These patents are currently assigned[*] to Novartis (source: MaxVal’s Assignment Database). 

The inventions in general relate to pharmaceutical products comprising bisphosphonates and to process such bisphosphonate products to be used in the treatment of conditions involving abnormally increased bone turnover, such as osteoporosis.

The complaint alleges that defendants seek FDA to approve a generic version of Zometa and/or Reclast with zoledronic acid that infringes the above patents. Plaintiff is the current holder[†] of FDA approved Zometa® and/or Reclast® (source: Patent Marker) with zoledronic acid as the active ingredient. Zoledronic acid inhibits the release of calcium from bones. Complaint also says that FDA approval granted to plaintiff for zoledronic acid would expire on Mar 02, 2013, however, the 3 patents cover methods of using zoledronic acid.

Zometa is used to treat high blood levels of calcium caused by cancer. Zometa also treats bone cancer that has spread from elsewhere in the body. Reclast is used to treat Paget's disease in men and women.

The other cases related to this are 2:12-cv-03967 (Wockhardt USA), 2:12-cv-04393 and 1:2005cv04004 (Sun Pharmaceuticals), 1:08-cv-00952 and 1:08-cv-00459 (Teva Parenteral Medicines). If you are interested in knowing more about the cases filed, please contact us. To get alerts on cases filed, subscribe to our Litigation Alerts

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[*] MaxVal offers Patent Assignment Alert service where subscribers receive email alerts when assignments relating to target applications, patents or entities of interest are recorded.
[†] Patent Marker provides an online environment where patentees can virtually mark products and search products for patent-related information.

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