Claris Lifesciences settles propofol patent litigation with Fresenius Kabi

Healthcare company Fresenius Kabi and India-based generic drug maker Claris Lifesciences have settled their patent dispute, ending pending litigation.

The dispute, resolved yesterday (April 20), related to the Germany-based Fresenius’s intravenous sedative and anaesthetic Diprivan (propofol).

Fresenius sued Claris for patent infringement at the US District Court for the District of New Jersey last December.

It filed the case after Claris filed an Abbreviated New Drug Application at the US Food and Drug Administration for approval to make and sell a Diprivan generic.

Claris sought to make its generic product before Fresenius’s patent covering the drug, US number 8,476,010, expires in June 1, 2025.

Under the agreement, Claris, assuming it gets FDA approval, can start marketing a generic version of Diprivan, a propofol injection, in the US from October 15, 2016.

According to figures quoted by Claris, in June 2014 propofol injection had a market size of about $251 million in the US.