shutterstock_1826152037_lev_radin
Lev Radin / Shutterstock.com
3 February 2022Americas

Court dismisses Regeneron’s antitrust countersuit against Novartis

Novartis escaped an antitrust countersuit brought by Regeneron earlier this week, with a New York court dismissing the suit which had been filed in response to Novartis’ patent complaint.

On Monday, January 31, Judge David Hurd of the US District Court for the Northern District of New York allowed Novartis and Vetter Pharma International request for the case to be dismissed, while also adopting Regeneron’s claim construction in its entirety in the related patent complaint.

Back in June 2020, Novartis had filed a patent suit against Regeneron, claiming that its rival was infringing a patent for syringes which come pre-filled with a certain medication used to treat degenerative eye disease.

One month later, Regeneron fired back with its own suit, alleging four antitrust claims and an additional claim for tortious interference with a contract. Regeneron directed some of its claims at Vetter, a pharmaceutical supply chain provider that filled Novartis’ syringes—and formerly Regeneron’s.

Regeneron accused the two companies of conspiring to circumvent a binding contract which gave Regeneron an ownership interest in any of Vetter’s innovations. It also accused the pair of defrauding the US Patent and Trademark Office to secure Novartis “a stranglehold on the market” for pre-filled syringes designed to treat degenerative eye disease, according to Hurd.

Earlier this week, Hurd handed down his decisions on three motions in the two cases. In addition to dismissing the antitrust countersuit with prejudice, Hurd also dismissed Regeneron’s request for a stay in proceedings while the USPTO conducts an inter partes review of the validity of Novartis’s patent.

Novartis and Regeneron had also submitted their opening claim construction briefs in advance of a potential hearing. The judge adopted Regeneron’s claim construction in its entirety and affixed the meanings proposed by Regeneron to every disputed claim term.

Concluding, Hurt said: “Between the multiple competing claims, the various avenues of external review, and the three disparate yet roughly contemporaneous motions, the result was something of a quagmire.

“Nonetheless, at the close of the present motion practice, it is the Court’s hope that a clearer path forward has opened.”

He said that the definitions of all necessary terms for the ‘631 patent have now been set, the  antitrust case has been dismissed, and the patent case is proceeding forward towards its resolution.

Hurt added: “Whether that path will in fact turn out to be as clear as it seems is a question for another day. For now, there is nothing else to do but to let the parties to begin to walk it.”

Commenting on the decision, a Regeneron spokesperson told LSIPR: "While we respect the court’s decision, we disagree with the ruling dismissing our antitrust claims against Novartis and plan to appeal."

Did you enjoy reading this story?  Sign up to our free daily newsletters and get stories sent like this straight to your inbox.


More on this story

article
28 October 2021   The US Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) has granted a review of a Novartis syringe patent following a challenge from biotech giant Regeneron.
Big Pharma
7 March 2022   Regeneron has failed to convince a Manhattan district court to drop a lawsuit claiming that it developed COVID-19 treatments using Allele’s fluorescent protein invention without its permission.
Generics
30 August 2022   Pharma company facing lawsuit from two universities | Dispute centres on therapeutically effective co-crystals patent.

More on this story

article
28 October 2021   The US Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) has granted a review of a Novartis syringe patent following a challenge from biotech giant Regeneron.
Big Pharma
7 March 2022   Regeneron has failed to convince a Manhattan district court to drop a lawsuit claiming that it developed COVID-19 treatments using Allele’s fluorescent protein invention without its permission.
Generics
30 August 2022   Pharma company facing lawsuit from two universities | Dispute centres on therapeutically effective co-crystals patent.