Case Filed: Jul 21, 2014
Origin Case: 1:14-cv-00270
Case Summary:
In Feb 2014, Antares Pharma, a
US-based developer of automatic injection devices filed a complaint alleging
infringement of two U.S. patents by defendants Medac Pharma, a subsidiary of
German pharmaceutical company, Medac GmbH commercializing hand-powered
pre-filled methotrexate syringes. The complaint was filed in the Delaware
District Court.
Patents-in-Suit:
The patents involved in the suit
are:
- US8480631 entitled ‘Hazardous agent injection system,’ issued on Jul 09, 2013 and expiring* by Mar 19, 2030
- US6565553 entitled ‘Needle assisted jet injector,’ issued on May 20, 2003 and expiring* by Feb 24, 2019
The patents are currently
assigned+
to Antares (source: MaxVal’s Assignment
Database).
As in Complaint:
Medac infringed claims of
patents-in-suit, in violation of Antares' patent rights, by submitting Medac
NDA to the FDA seeking approval to commercially market Medac's MTX product,
also referred as MPI-2505, before the expiration date of patents-in-suit. The
proposed NDA product indications are the same as those approved for Otrexup™,
according to the complaint.
In Oct 2013, the FDA approved NDA
no. 204-824 for Otrexup™, which uses Antares' proprietary automatic injection
device for which Antares is the current holder± (source: Patent Marker).
Otrexup™ is the first and only product approved by the FDA to administer
methotrexate subcutaneously (under the skin) to treat rheumatoid arthritis (RA)
and psoriasis.
According to court documents, in
Sep 2013, Medac submitted NDA application with the FDA for a methotrexate
injection product to be sold under the trade name Rasuvo™.
District Court Proceedings:
Antares amended its complaint,
adding allegations of infringement of two other reissue patents: RE44846 and
RE44847. In May 2014, Becton Dickinson and Company (Becton) filed an intervenor
complaint seeking a declaratory judgment that claims of the patents-in-suit are
not infringed and alleged that patents-in-suit are invalid. The parties
correspondingly filed counterclaims.
Antares filed a motion seeking preliminary
injunction over the patents-in-suit. The
court denied its motion reasoning that Antares did not succeed in showing that
Medac's product infringes claims directed to a jet injector.
Appeal against Order:
An interlocutory appeal was filed
by Antares as district court denied its motion seeking preliminary injunction. Antares
(appellant) filed a motion to expedite the briefing schedule and oral argument,
which the court granted and is currently awaiting Medac’s (appellee) brief
response.
See 2014-1648
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*
Expected expiration date. Patent Term Estimator
is a free web-based tool that automatically calculates patent terms and
expiration dates for U.S. utility patents.
+
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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