Sanofi Files Suit Against Merck, Claiming Patent Infringements -Update
September 19 2016 - 11:49AM
Dow Jones News
By Noemie Bisserbe and Inti Landauro
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 said the company's product "doesn't
infringe Sanofi's patents."
Sanofi shares were 1.3% higher at EUR69.91 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 EUR2.9 billion ($3.2 billion), hit by a 15% drop in Lantus sales
to EUR2.38 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 11:34 ET (15:34 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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