The competition regulator has proposed to deny authorisation for a patent settlement that sought to permit early entry of generic drugs. Whether the companies involved will be able to quell the ACCC’s concerns remains to be seen, but what is clear is that future authorisation applications will contend with significant forensic challenges, writes Corrs Chambers Westgarth’s Odette Gourley, Richard Flitcroft, David Fixler and Ian Reynolds.
The Federal Court has signed off on a settlement between two US biotech companies that ends a dispute over the companies’ ‘Access’ trade marks in Australia.
Novartis wants to appeal a ruling in its dispute with generic drug maker Pharmacor over patents for its multiple sclerosis drug Gilenya that tossed three of its four experts out of an upcoming so-called hot tub.
A judge has questioned whether the lead applicant in a class action over sleep apnea machines with alleged safety defects was āappropriately resourcedā to run the case against health tech giant Philips.
The ACCC has refused to authorise a patent settlement and license agreement between Bristol-Myers Squibb unit Celgene and two generic drug makers who sued to invalidate the patents for its blockbuster cancer drug Revlimid, saying it could distort competition between generic drug makers.
The Full Court has upheld two judgments that shortened patent term extensions granted to Merck Sharpe & Dohme and Ono Pharmaceuticals, finding the extension regime cannot be construed as achieving aĀ “commercial outcome for a patentee”.
A judge has slammed Novartis for putting forward four “overlapping” experts in a dispute with Pharmacor over patents for its MS drug Gilenya and thrown three of those experts out of an upcoming joint conferral, known as a “hot tub”.
The High Court has found that Novartis unit Sandoz infringed Danish drug company Lundbeck’s patent for its blockbuster antidepressant Lexapro, but has overturned a ruling that found the generic drug maker owes $26.3 million in damages.
Settlement talks in a class action brought by Shine Lawyers against Astora Women’s Health on behalf of women injured by allegedly defective pelvic mesh products are “well advanced”, while mediation in two similar actions is ongoing, a court has heard.
The Northern Territory government has hit back at a class action over allegedly underresourced and discriminatory healthcare services in the Indigenous community of Wadeye, saying it cannot be sued over its funding decisions.