Sandoz rebuffed again in biosimilar suit against Amgen

A U.S. appeals court dismissed on procedural grounds a patent suit filed by the Sandoz unit of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS; SIX:NOVN) against Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) and Roche (SIX:ROG; OTCQX:RHHBY) concerning Sandoz's proposed biosimilar of Enbrel etanercept.

In its original suit, Sandoz sought a declaratory judgment of non-infringement of Amgen's patents covering the autoimmune drug, but was turned down by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California because Sandoz had not yet submitted an application for approval of its biosimilar to FDA (see BioCentury Extra, Nov. 14, 2013). ...