Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Nasonex®: "Pay To Delay" Underway -- Or, Legit Patent Beef?


According to this item from the Bloomberg wires yesterday, Merck, as successor to Schering-Plough's interests in the Nasonex® branded inhaler, have sued Apotex, alleging patent infringement. Apotex seeks to bring a generic version of the drug to market. [The suit, Schering Corp. v. Apotex Inc., Case 09-6373, is now pending in the federal District Court in Newark. I'll keep an eye on it for the readers here assembled.]

So, are these the opening chess-moves, moves already known by Merck to be precursors to an end-game in which Merck pays Apotex to keep a generic version of the Nasonex inhaler off the market for a few more years? Or is this a benign, and legitimate, use of the patent statute to stop an unfairly-equipped interloper -- an interloper named Apotex (arguably) equipped with proprietary technology it does not have the right to wield? Time will tell -- but here is a snippet:

. . . . Merck & Co.’s Schering-Plough unit sued Canadian generic drugmaker Apotex Inc. in an effort to stop a copy of the Nasonex allergy inhaler from being marketed.

Closely-held Apotex is seeking U.S. regulatory approval for the generic which would [allegedly] infringe three of Schering-Plough’s patents. . . .

Stay tuned.

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