Eli Lilly’s Dermira accuses Perrigo of infringing patents

Pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly’s subsidiary Dermira has accused generic drugmaker Perrigo of infringing eight patents for Qbrexza, a prescription-only cloth towelette approved to treat  hyperhidrosis, a condition that causes excessive underarm sweating.

Qbrexza can be used by those aged nine and over, and is applied directly to the skin to block sweat production by inhibiting sweat gland activation.

In the complaint, filed on October 21 at the US District Court for the District of Delaware, Eli Lilly and a California-based company, Rose U, sought a court order blocking copies of the cloth until the disputed patents have expired.

It stated that Dermira owns five of the patents in suit, while Rose U owns three and licenses them exclusively to Dermira.

Five of the patents expire in February 2033, one in October 2028, one in July 2030 and one in December 2029, according to the complaint.

In September, Dublin-based Perrigo applied for Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) to the US Food and Drug Administration seeking approval to manufacture and sell a glycopyrronium cloth, a rival product for the treatment of hyperhidrosis.

In the suit, the companies complained that “Perrigo deliberately challenged... patent rights” and that “its marketing, selling, and/or distributing of Perrigo’s ANDA product, would have a substantial effect within Delaware and would constitute infringement”.

According to the filing, the companies held that Perrigo had knowledge of the patents’ claims because they were listed in the FDA’s “Orange Book: Approved Drug Products with Therapeutic Equivalence Evaluations”.

Dermira also maintained that because it is incorporated in Delaware, “the injury and consequences of Perrigo’s filing of an ANDA challenging Plaintiffs’ patent rights, would be suffered in Delaware”.

The two companies are seeking damages and costs.

LSIPR has approached Dermira and Perrigo for comment.

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