Amgen Patent Case Expedited

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Amgen Inc. has been granted an accelerated hearing in its pending patent-infringement lawsuit against the Swiss firm Roche Holding AG. Amgen is trying to bar Roche from selling its version of an anemia treatment, which has yet to win approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, in the United States.


U.S. District Judge William G. Young set up an Oct. 23 conference on the case to be held in Boston. Roche’s anemia treatment, Cera, would compete with Amgen’s Epogen and Aranesp drugs, which had combined sales of $5.7 billion last year and accounted for nearly half of the Thousand Oaks-based company’s revenue.


Amgen, which is the world’s largest biotech company, wants to expedite the case because the FDA is expected to rule on Cera early next year.

Opening arguments in the suit were heard in May. The U.S. International Trade Commission refused to consider the case earlier this year.

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