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18 July 2018Americas

AbbVie and Mylan agree Humira licensing deal

US-based biopharmaceutical company AbbVie entered into a patent licensing agreement with generics company Mylan yesterday.

The agreement comes after Mylan announced plans to launch a biosimilar of AbbVie’s Humira (adalimumab) in April 2018.

Humira is an antibody used to treat Crohn’s disease, arthritis and psoriasis.

AbbVie will grant Mylan a non-exclusive licence to the Humira patents and, in return, Mylan will pay royalties once it launches the biosimilar product.

Mylan’s licence will begin in five years, on July 31, 2023, and is not expected to be affected by previous agreements.

This is not the first time AbbVie has licensed its Humira patents.

In September 2017, AbbVie announced that it had settled a patent dispute with Amgen over the latter’s proposed biosimilar version of Humira.

As part of the settlement, AbbVie agreed to license the Humira patents to Amgen.

Amgen’s biosimilar, Amgevita/Amjevita, is expected to launch in Europe in October next year and in January 2023 in the US.

Also, in April 2018, AbbVie secured a settlement relating to litigation over Humira, this time with biopharmaceutical company Samsung Bioepis.

Samsung Bioepis’s licence period will begin in the US on June 30, 2023. In most countries in the EU, the period will start on October 16, 2018.

Laura Schumacher, executive vice president of business development and external affairs, general counsel and corporate secretary at AbbVie, said that Humira’s patents reflect the company’s “patient-focused innovation”.

“We understand the importance of balancing innovation and accessibility, and our agreement with Mylan for its Humira biosimilar maintains that balance,” she added.

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More on this story

Americas
8 November 2018   Biotech company Momenta has obtained the rights to use AbbVie’s Humira IP, enabling the global commercialisation of Momenta’s proposed Humira biosimilar, M923.
Generics
29 April 2021   Mylan can deduct legal fees from defending itself against patent infringement suits as business expenses, according to the US Tax Court.
Big Pharma
11 May 2021   MSD, known as Merck in the US and Canada, has prevailed against a bid by Mylan Pharmaceuticals and other generic drug makers to invalidate a diabetes treatment patent.

More on this story

Americas
8 November 2018   Biotech company Momenta has obtained the rights to use AbbVie’s Humira IP, enabling the global commercialisation of Momenta’s proposed Humira biosimilar, M923.
Generics
29 April 2021   Mylan can deduct legal fees from defending itself against patent infringement suits as business expenses, according to the US Tax Court.
Big Pharma
11 May 2021   MSD, known as Merck in the US and Canada, has prevailed against a bid by Mylan Pharmaceuticals and other generic drug makers to invalidate a diabetes treatment patent.