[THE INVESTOR] A US court has ruled in favor of Celltrion in the last chapter of its legal patent battle with Janssen over its version of the US company’s blockbuster drug Remicade.
The US District Court of Massachusetts ruled on July 30 that Celltrion’s biosimilar Inflectra didn’t infringe Janssen’s patent that claims particular compositions of cell culture, the material used to grow living cells that produce biologic medicines.
In 2015, Janssen sued Celltrion, alleging Inflectra infringed its patent.
By winning the last legal battle, Celltrion said it expects the autoimmune-disease drug will further expand its market share in the US via its sales partner Pfizer.
Pfizer began selling Celltrion’s copycat version referencing Remicade in the US from November 2016.
The biosimilar generated US$78.7 million in the US in the first half of this year while the original drug posted sales of US$2.02 billion in the same period.
By Park Han-na (hnpark@heraldcorp.com)