- The U.S. District Court of San Francisco denies Amgen's (NASDAQ:AMGN) preliminary injunction to block the sale of Novartis' (NYSE:NVS) Zarxio, a biosimilar of the former's $1.2B Neupogen (filgrastim) that was approved by the FDA several weeks ago, the first biosimilar to clear the regulatory hurdle in the U.S. Amgen intends to appeal the decision.
- Novartis previously agreed to delay Zarxio's U.S. launch until the court's decision or April 10, whichever came first. If it proceeds with the launch and Amgen wins its appeal, it would have to pay costly damages. In a statement, Novartis said, "Given the importance of this case for future biosimilars, we agreed with Amgen before this hearing to jointly request expedited review of any appeal to the Federal Circuit." It is unknown how long Amgen's appeal will take.
- Previously: FDA clears first biosimilar (March 6)