Fresenius, Baxter Settle Patent Suit on Naropin Anesthetic Drug

Fresenius SE & Co. and Baxter International Inc. settled a lawsuit over Baxter’s proposed generic version of Naropin, which it had alleged infringes four patents for the injectable drug, used as an anesthetic during surgery or to ease labor pains.

No details were provided in the parties’ stipulation and order of dismissal without prejudice, approved Thursday by Judge Maryellen Noreika in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware.

Fresenius sued Baxter last July, seeking a court order blocking copies and the use of any infringing compound until the patents have expired.

One of the patents expires in May 2023 and was part of a case Fresenius settled last fall in New Jersey with Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group Co.‘s Gland Pharma. The pact included a licensing agreement. That patent, which covers a self-sealing membrane within a connector of a medical-fluid infusion or transfusion bag, is the focus of a lawsuit Fresenius filed Feb. 18 in Delaware against Sintetica SA.

Of the other patents that were part of the Baxter case, one expires in May 2024, another in October 2025, and the fourth in November 2026, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s registry of approved drugs.

Fresenius is represented by Farnan LLP. Baxter is represented by Potter Anderson & Corroon LLP.

The case is Fresenius Kabi USA LLC v. Baxter Healthcare Corp., D. Del., No. 21-cv-1040, dismissal order approved 5/5/22.