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Update 3:10pm: Adds analyst comment.
Regeneron (NASDAQ:REGN) won a permanent injunction that blocks drugmakers including, Mylan Pharmaceuticals/Biocon Biologics, from launching a generic version of its blockbuster eye drug Eylea. Regeneron rose 1% on Tuesday.
Chief Judge Thomas S. Kleeh, of the US District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia, granted the permanent injunction on Tuesday, according to a court ruling.
The permanent injunction comes after won a temporary restraining order last month blocking generic Eylea.
The ruling appears to be an “incremental positive” for Regeneron as it allows he biopharma company to convert the market to Eylea HD, Morgan Stanley analyst Terence Flynn wrote in a note on Tuesday.
Assuming an appeals process takes a year, Flynn sees a decision by the Federal Circuit court in the second half of next year. The court hasn’t decided on REGN’s motion for a preliminary injunction against several other biosimilar Eyleas such as Samsung Bioepis and Celltrion. He expects a decision likely by the end of this week when the temporary restraining order expires.
Regeneron (REGN) had a mixed ruling in late December over a patent dispute over Eylea. Regeneron (REGN) sued Viatris (VTRS) in August 2022 and alleged that a biosimilar version of Eylea proposed by a Viatris’s Mylan Pharmaceuticals unit infringes patents for the drug, used to treat retinal diseases.
Also in late December, Regeneron (REGN) filed a lawsuit against South Korean biopharma Samsung Bioepis, alleging that its biosimilar version of eye disease therapy Eylea violated 51 patents of the U.S. company.
