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20 February 2020Big PharmaRory O'Neill

Irish nutrition group faces Kaneka patent suit

Japanese drugmaker Kaneka has accused Irish nutrition company Glanbia of infringing two patents with its ActiQuinol (coenzyme Q10) antioxidant products.

According to the suit, filed earlier this week at the US District Court for the District of Delaware, Kaneka is the world’s “premier supplier” of CoQ10 supplements.

CoQ10 is found in every cell of the human body, but levels decrease as a person ages. Supplements such as ActiQuinol are taken to boost the levels of the antioxidant in the body.

The two Kaneka patents (US numbers 7,145,044 and 7,829,080) cover methods of producing and stabilising reduced CoQ10, known as ubiquinol. ActiQuinol is a brand name for ubiquinol acetate, which is manufactured by Indian company Anthem Biosciences, also named as a defendant, and supplied to Glanbia.

Glanbia and Anthem say that ubiquinol acetate is more bioavailable and stable than standard ubiquinol, claims which Kaneka says are “false and misleading”.

According to Kaneka, ubiquinol acetate infringes Kaneka’s two patents covering a method for producing standard ubiquinol.

The Japanese company is seeking an injunction blocking Anthem and Glanbia from manufacturing and selling the allegedly infringing products, as well as an award of costs and expenses.

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