Drugmaker Shire plc announced a big win Wednesday in a patent fight that’s pitted the company’s lawyers at IP boutique Frommer Lawrence & Haug against a phalanx of larger firms.
In a 37-page summary judgment ruling dated June 23, U.S. District Judge Stanley Chesler in Newark ruled that four Shire patents on Vyvanse are valid and would be infringed if generic drug companies market low-cost versions of the drug. Six generic competitors—Amneal Pharmaceuticals Inc., Actavis plc, Johnson Matthey plc, Sandoz Pharmaceuticals Inc. (a division of Novartis AG), Mylan Laboratories Inc. and Roxane Laboratories Inc.—had challenged the Shire patents in court in hopes of launching their own copies of Vyvanse before Shire’s patents expire in 2023.
