In a closely watched patent battle, the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously ruled against California-based drugmaker Amgen, affirming a lower court’s decision that Amgen’s French rival Sanofi didn’t infringe on patents on a cholesterol-lowering antibody drug.
The long-running feud involves two rival drugs: Praluent, developed by Sanofi and New York partner Regeneron and greenlit by the FDA in July 2015, and Amgen’s Repatha, which won federal approval just a few weeks later. Both drugs are monoclonal antibodies that help lower “bad” LDL cholesterol by blocking a protein called PCSK9.
Amgen sued Sanofi and Regeneron in 2014 over alleged patent infringement. Amgen won the initial trial in 2016, driving Sanofi to the brink of ending Praluent sales in the United States. However, in 2019, a Delaware judge threw out the jury verdict and invalidated Amgen’s patent claims. Eventually, Amgen was able to convince the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case….