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Minters victorious in ‘high-stakes’ Federal Court battle
MinterEllison has had a win in the Federal Court in what’s being described as a high-stakes battle between two pharmaceutical giants.
Minters has achieved a victory for its client, Aussie-headquartered Alphapharm, in its battle against fellow pharmaceutical company, Sanofi, which last week saw the Federal Court refuse to grant Sanofi an interlocutory injunction to stop the launch of insulin glargine injector pen.
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According to a statement from Minters, the battle began in the Federal Court on 20 August 2018, after “Sanofi launched proceedings against Alphapharm with the assertion that an insulin glargine injector pen product Alphapharm proposed to launch in Australia would infringe Sanofi Deutschland’s patent for an injector pen device”.
Insulin glargine is a biologic medicine used in the treatment of both Type One and Type Two diabetes, and there is a substantial market for such products in Australia, the statement explained.
“As a part of the court proceedings, Sanofi sought an urgent interlocutory injunction in an attempt to restrain the launch of Alphapharm’s product pending the trial. The effect of such an injunction would be to keep Alphapharm out of the insulin glargine market until the proceeding is finally determined.”
MinterEllison partner Robert Cooper said the Federal Court refusing to grant Sanofi the interlocutory injunction marked a landmark win for local pharmaceutical patent cases.
“This decision is highly significant for Alphapharm and the entire pharmaceutical industry, as it represents one of the very few Australian pharmaceutical patent cases where an application for an interlocutory injunction has been refused,” he explained.
Mr Cooper and Jonathan Kelp acted for Alphapharm on the matter, with the pair supported by a team of lawyers including Amy Surkis, Tony Middleton and James Webster.
