Sanofi Files Suit Against Merck
September 19 2016 - 8:30AM
Dow Jones News
PARIS—Sanofi SA said it filed a lawsuit against Merck & Co.
for alleged patent infringements to prevent the U.S. drugmaker from
launching a rival version of the French pharmaceutical giant's
best-selling diabetes treatment Lantus.
In the filing in the U.S. District Court of Delaware, Sanofi
said on Monday it claims that Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., Merck
& Co.'s international division, violated as many as 10 patents
held by the French company, including ones for its insulin Lantus
and its insulin delivery device soloSTAR.
The Paris-based drugs company said it started the legal
proceedings against Merck after the U.S. firm's filing for new
drugs applications with the U.S. Food & Drug
Administration.
A spokeswoman for Merck didn't immediately respond to a request
for comment.
Sanofi shares were 1.3% higher at €69.91 in midday trading.
The French drugmaker's all-important diabetes business is under
siege, as a flurry of pharmaceutical companies seek to sell
knockoffs of its blockbuster insulin Lantus in the U.S. The
expected launch of lower-cost copies of Lantus and growing pricing
pressure on diabetes drugs in the U.S. is rapidly eroding earnings
at Sanofi's diabetes division, which accounts for about 20% of the
firm's total revenue.
In the first six months of the year, diabetes revenue fell by 6%
to €2.9 billion ($3.2 billion), hit by a 15% drop in Lantus sales
to €2.38 billion. The company has said it expects revenue from
diabetes drugs to continue to decline this as competition among
insulin makers intensifies.
In January 2014, Sanofi filed a suit against Eli Lilly & Co.
to defend its patents on Lantus. It had reached a deal with the
U.S. drugmaker nearly two years later, under which Lilly agreed to
delay the launch of its insulin to December 2016 and pay royalties
to Sanofi.
In a bid to replenish its new drugs pipeline and revive growth,
Sanofi for months had pursued U.S. biotech Medivation—a
Nasdaq-listed company that focuses on hard-to-treat cancers,
markets one prostate-cancer therapy, Xtandi, and has two other
oncology assets in clinical development.
But U.S. pharma giant Pfizer Inc. beat out Sanofi grabbing
Medivation for $14 billion in August.
Write to Noemie Bisserbe at noemie.bisserbe@wsj.com and Inti
Landauro at inti.landauro@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 19, 2016 08:15 ET (12:15 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Pfizer (NYSE:PFE)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024
Pfizer (NYSE:PFE)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024