Amgen patent case revived by federal judge

A federal appeals court revived a bid by Amgen Inc. to have a U.S. trade agency block Roche Holding AG from importing and selling anemia treatments in the U.S. that would compete with Amgen’s biggest drugs.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit last week reversed an International Trade Commission judge’s ruling that the administrative agency didn’t have jurisdiction to decide Amgen’s patent-infringement claims. The appeals court in Washington sent the case back to the ITC.
“The issues of infringement and injury were properly before the commission for resolution,” Circuit Judge Pauline Newman wrote in a 16-page opinion.
The ruling gives Amgen a further opportunity to block Roche from selling its competing drug, Mircera, in the U.S. A federal jury in Boston ruled in October that Mircera violated Amgen’s patents and U.S. District Judge William Young last month temporarily blocked Roche from selling the drug. He is considering a modified order that would let Roche to sell the medicine in the U.S. and pay Amgen royalties.
Amgen’s anemia drugs, Aranesp and Epogen, account for about 41 percent of the Thousand Oaks, Calif.-based company’s revenue. &#8226