Legal Issues

Philips, the last of the global top-three imaging companies to report 2024 financial results, said the soft China market put the brakes on its growth. The regional outlook for early 2025 is no different, and US-China tariffs will present another challenge.

The biotech industry faces a surge in litigation due to stricter regulations and patent disputes. This legal storm challenges companies and investors, but there are proactive strategies for mitigating risk in this dynamic landscape.

A month after Vanda failed to win a trade secrets case against the US FDA corresponding to generic approvals for its brands Hetlioz and Fanapt, the originator has again fallen, this time to the agency and Teva in the alleged unlawful approval of the Israeli firm’s generic Hetlioz product.

While the UK Court of Appeal’s decision in Merck Serono v Comptroller-General will be unwelcome by innovators, it provides much-needed certainty for companies seeking – or seeking to invalidate – supplementary protection certificates based on marketing authorizations for new uses of known active ingredients.

The Teva v. Amneal battle over inhaler patents in the FDA’s Orange Book has become a noteworthy case that will impact both branded and generic drug companies. Yet, the clarity over patent listings might be overshadowed by possible future litigations, discussed law firm Polsinelli’s chair Chad Landmon with Generics Bulletin.

“While Vanda developed the brand-name drugs, the trade secret and confidential and proprietary information claimed to have been taken by the government was, in fact, proposed and recommended to Vanda by the FDA,” a US federal court said.

“While Vanda developed the brand-name drugs, the trade secret and confidential and proprietary information claimed to have been taken by the government was, in fact, proposed and recommended to Vanda by the FDA,” a US federal court found as it granted summary judgment to the US government.

A lot can happen in 24 hours, as Novartis can attest. The Swiss originator has managed to win a court order temporarily putting the brakes on MSN’s Entresto ANDA product – just hours after a lower court refused a similar request.

Novartis has been spooked by the potential for MSN Laboratories to launch its generic version of the originator’s $3bn Entresto (sacubitril/valsartan) heart failure brand, filing an emergency motion in an appeals court in Washington DC just days ahead of the proposed expiry of one of Entresto’s US patents.

Alexion has been refused in its bid for injunctions to block the sale of Samsung Bioepis and Amgen’s European Soliris biosimilars, following a decision by the Court of Appeal of Europe’s Unified Patent Court.