In the most recent of a series of litigations by AbbVie against manufacturers seeking to market biosimilar versions of Humira®, the world’s most profitable drug, AbbVie initiated an action against Alvotech in the district court for the Northern District of Illinois on April 27, 2021, after Alvotech requested approval of its biosimilar, AVT02, a biosimilar to the high-concentration 100 mg/ml formulation of adalimumab (Humira®). Alvotech stated that it believes AVT02 will be the first biosimilar…

On May 6, 2021, the Brazilian Supreme Court determined that the minimum ten-year patent term set forth in Article 40 of the Brazilian Intellectual Property Statute (Law No. 9,279) was unconstitutional (ADI 5529), and, on May 12, 2021, retroactively reduced the terms of granted pharmaceutical and medical device patents that are valid only due to the ten-year patent term provision to 20 years from the filing date.  The terms of granted patents in fields other…

During the first quarter of 2021, multiple companies launched adalimumab biosimilars as a growing number of biosimilar players marketed their versions of the world’s most profitable drug, Humira®, which had sales of about $20 billion in 2020.  While none have launched thus far, at least eight adalimumab biosimilars are due to launch by the end of 2023 in the United States, where Abbvie secured over $16 billion of its Humira® sales revenues in 2020. On…

Two bills were signed into law on April 23, 2021, with the aim of increasing access to and education regarding generic and biosimilar medicines. The Ensuring Innovation Act was passed with the aim to “lower the price patients pay for their prescriptions,” according to Senator Bill Cassidy, one of the co-sponsors for the bill.  The bill also “ensures affordable life-saving medicine while preserving innovation for cutting-edge medicine,” per comments by Senator Roger Marshall, another of…

On February 25, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit heard oral arguments in UFCW Local 1500 Welfare Fund v. AbbVie Inc. (Case No. 20-2402), a case appealed from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois by a group of Humira buyers (including consumer groups, drug wholesalers, and unions) accusing AbbVie of using “patent thicket” around Humira® to block biosimilars from entering the market, in violation of antitrust laws.…

The Federal Circuit has affirmed Bayer’s patent infringement victory related to Baxalta’s biologic product, Adynovate.  Bayer Healthcare LLC v. Baxalta Inc., No. 2019-2418, 2021 WL 771700 (Fed. Cir. Mar. 1, 2021).  At the district court, the jury found the claims of Bayer’s U.S. Patent No. 9,364,520 (“the ’520 patent”) enabled and infringed, and awarded a reasonable royalty of 17.78%.  The appeal raised a variety of issues, including infringement, enablement, damages, and willfulness.  The Federal Circuit…