BioCentury
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Amgen autoimmune news

December 5, 2011 8:00 AM UTC

Amgen said the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued a patent covering the fusion protein that constitutes autoimmune drug Enbrel etanercept. The patent, which expires in 2028, describes the non-soluble proteins and soluble or insoluble fragments thereof that bind tumor necrosis factor (TNF). Amgen markets Enbrel in the U.S. and Canada with Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE, New York, N.Y.), while Pfizer has rights elsewhere. Amgen acquired the patent through its 2002 acquisition of Immunex Corp., which had rights to the patent from Roche (SIX:ROG; OTCQX:RHHBY, Basel, Switzerland). Enbrel, a recombinant p75 TNF receptor linked to the Fc portion of human IgG1 (TNFr:Fc), recorded $2.6 billion in U.S. sales for the first nine months of 2011 (see BioCentury, July 22, 2002).

A process patent for Enbrel expires in 2012 and a patent covering an aqueous formulation of Enbrel expires in 2023. Amgen also has a use patent for Enbrel in psoriasis that expires in 2019. Amgen said in a statement that it does not expect biosimilar competition for Enbrel in the U.S. "in the foreseeable future." ...