Bayer, Apotex settle suit over cancer drug patent
Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals has settled a patent infringement suit with generics manufacturer Apotex, after claiming that its version of a cancer treatment infringed two patents for cancer drug Stivarga (regorafenib).
The suit was dismissed on August 4 but has yet to be approved by the US District Court for the District of Delaware. No further details were provided.
In March 2017, Apotex notified Bayer that it was seeking approval from the Food and Drug Administration to create a generic version of Stivarga.
Later that same month, Bayer claimed that Apotex had infringed its patent, number 9,458,107, for the cancer drug and filed a suit at the Delaware court.
More than a year later, Bayer hit Apotex with another patent suit relating to Stivarga at the same court in September 2018, this time for patent number 9,957,232. It filed a request for the blocking of generic copies until this patent expired in July 2032.
According to Bayer’s latest quarterly earnings report, Stivarga generated sales of $295 million during the first half of 2020, up from $237 million during the same period in 2019.
Both companies have been approached for a comment.
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