Patent Infringement | "Momenta, Samsung, Zynga, Netflix: Intellectual Property"

By : Victoria Slind-Flor
Source : http://www.bloomberg.com
Category : Patent Infringement

Momenta Pharmaceuticals Inc. (MNTA) is unlikely to win its patent-infringement case over copies of the blood-thinner Lovenox, so Watson Pharmaceutics Inc. can sell its version until a trial is held, a U.S. appeals court ruled.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Aug. 3 vacated an order that would have prevented Watson partner Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Inc. from selling the copy until an infringement trial can be held and sent the case back to the lower court for further proceedings.

“Momenta has not established a likelihood of success on its claim on infringement,” the court ruled in a 2-1 decision posted on its website. The panel said the trial judge might want to consider whether to issue a ruling of non-infringement.

Momenta owns a patent related to enoxaparin, the active ingredient in Lovenox, and gets a share of the profit earned from generic Lovenox sold by partner Novartis AG (NOVN)’s Sandoz unit. Charlie Mayr, a spokesman for Parsippany, New Jersey-based Watson, said the company was pleased with the ruling. Officials with Momenta, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, didn’t immediately return messages seeking comment.

Sanofi (SAN), the Paris-based maker of the branded medicine, reported 2.1 billion euros ($2.6 billion) in Lovenox sales last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Copying the drug is difficult because it is made by cleaving raw heparin, an anticoagulant, with a type of sugar chain, according to court filings. Momenta’s patent is for a process to ensure the generic version of enoxaparin contains a certain percentage of the sugars, which the U.S. Food and Drug Administration listed as a requirement to get approval.

Momenta’s version, the first copy of Lovenox on the market, was getting $260 million a quarter of its version, the Federal Circuit said, relying on court submissions.

Amphastar argued that its use of the patented method was allowable because it was related to submitting information to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to prove its version was an equivalent of Lovenox.

The case is Momenta Pharmaceuticals Inc. v. Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Inc., 12-1062, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Washington). The lower court case is Momenta Pharmaceuticals Inc. v. Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Inc., 11cv11681, U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

Source : http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-06/momenta-samsung-zynga-netflix-intellectual-property.html