Amgen Sues Pfizer’s Hospira Over Proposed Neulasta Biosimilar

Biopharmaceutical maker Amgen Inc. sued Pfizer Inc.‘s Hospira Tuesday for patent infringement based on its proposed biosimilar of Amgen’s biologic cancer side-effect treatment drug Neulasta.

The lawsuit is the next step following a series of required information exchanges under the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act’s “patent dance” process. The patent dance allows parties to select patents that the biosimilar—a highly similar version of a biologic—is likely to infringe to deal with infringement issues early in the process.

Neulasta stimulates the production of white blood cells to counteract the deficiency caused by chemotherapy, boost the patient’s immune system, and ...