Irvine drug maker Allergan Inc. is in a familiar spot, with a patent lawsuit against a Canadian generic drug maker it’s gone up against in the past.
This time, the maker of Botox and skin and eye drugs wants to stop Toronto’s Apotex Inc. from making and marketing a generic version of Latisse, Allergan’s drug to grow eyelashes.
Apotex has filed an application with the Food and Drug Administration to make and sell a generic version of Latisse, according to Allergan’s suit.
Allergan’s patent covering the makeup of bimatoprost—Latisse’s active ingredient—expires in 2012. Latisse has other patents covering the drug’s usage that stretch until 2024, according to the FDA.
Apotex sent a letter to Allergan in July saying that it didn’t believe that two of Latisse’s patents were valid and that a third patent was irrelevant.
Allergan is seeking a judgment that Apotex infringed on its three Latisse patents by submitting the FDA application and that the proposed generic version of the drug also would violate Allergan patents.
Earlier this summer, the FDA said that an undisclosed drug maker had requested permission to market a generic version of Latisse.
Latisse came about when Allergan researchers discovered that bimatoprost, the active ingredient in its Lumigan glaucoma drug, grew eyelashes as a side effect.
Latisse was launched in early 2009 and accounted for $42.7 million in sales in the first half of 2010. Allergan projects Latisse sales of about $140 million for the full year, up from $73.3 million last year.
Allergan, which has more than $4 billion in annual sales, has squared off before with Apotex, which has about $960 million in annual sales.
In January, another lawsuit against Apotex got under way. Allergan and two Japanese drug makers, Senju Pharmaceutical Co. and Kyorin Pharmaceutical Co., brought the suit, which is ongoing.
Allergan and the Japanese companies allege that Apotex infringed upon a patent for Zymar, an antibiotic used to treat pink eye.
During a hearing, Richard Kelly, an Allergan lawyer, told U.S. District Court Judge Sue Robinson that Apotex “copied” Allergan’s version of Zymar and it contained the same active and inactive ingredients as Allergan’s drug.
“Apotex didn’t copy,” Alan Clement, a lawyer for Apotex, shot back in court.
Allergan said in its Securities and Exchange Commission quarterly report that it and the Japanese drug makers filed a motion for a new trial or to amend judgment and findings regarding one of the claims that Apotex made, even though the court ruled that Apotex’s proposed generic Zymar infringed several claims on one of the patents.
Apotex has responded to that motion, Allergan said in its filing.
In 2008, Allergan and partner Roche Holdings Ltd. of Switzerland prevailed in a patent lawsuit against Apotex concerning Acular LS, a drug that Allergan makes to control pain, itching and burning after surgery to correct nearsightedness.
InstaMed Raises $6M
InstaMed Inc., a healthcare payment processing company with offices in Newport Beach and Philadelphia, said it raised $6 million in funding earlier this month.
The company plans to use the money to invest in new business and to enhance its data center operations. InstaMed processes payments for hospitals, doctors and clinics and works with billing services, insurers and other healthcare payers.
Investors included Minneapolis-based U.S. Bank NA, Pennsylvania’s Osage Partners, Ashby Point Capital of Arnold, Md., NJTC Venture Fund of Mount Laurel, N.J., and what InstaMed called a private equity group that included eight wealthy families from Southern California.
Since InstaMed’s 2004 start, the company has raised $22 million in debt and equity financing.
Bits and Pieces
Medtronic Inc., a Minnesota device maker with heart valve operations in Irvine and Santa Ana, said it received European reg- ulatory clearance for its Medtronic CoreValve heart valve delivery catheter that has a stability layer that allows doctors to achieve “enhanced control and accuracy in the deployment of” the company’s CoreValve heart valve. Medtronic bought Irvine- based CoreValve Inc. last year for $700 million … Santa Ana-based Grubb & Ellis Co.’s healthcare unit formally announced the second buy of a Missouri long-term care hospital as part of a $41.7 million deal for four properties. A Grubb healthcare real estate investment fund bought the Joplin Long-Term Acute Care Hospital. The Joplin hospital, with 26,000 square feet of space, is near the state lines of Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas and Arkansas … Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear LLP, an Irvine-based law firm, created a website called Knobbemedical.com to assist medical device entrepreneurs. The site includes links to things such as basic business information and services for startup companies and vendor services.
