Amgen and Roche reach agreement on EPO

Amgen and Roche announced this week that they have resolved a dispute that arose from the patents for the former firm’s recombinant erythropoietin (EPO).

The court has instigated a permanent injunction prohibiting Roche from infringing Amgen’s patents on the EPO.

Roche revealed that the five Amgen EPO patents involved in the lawsuit are valid, enforceable and infringed by its pegylated-erythropoietin product MIRCERA.

Amgen will now allow Roche to begin selling MIRCERA in mid-2014 under the terms of a limited license agreement.

This marks the end of a five-year infringement dispute between the two organisations.

David Scott, senior vice-president and general counsel for Amgen, commented: “The settlement provides certainty to both companies and allows Amgen to focus intently on investing in innovative research and delivering medicines that treat grievous, unmet medical needs.”

In other Amgen news this week, the organisation revealed that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use of the European Medicines Agency issued a positive opinion for the marketing authorisation of Prolia (denosumab).