Novartis’ Entresto Drug Is Target of Universities’ Patent Suit

Novartis AG was hit with a federal lawsuit Monday alleging that Entresto, its blockbuster heart failure treatment, infringes a patent jointly held by the University of Michigan and the University of South Florida related to engineering crystals for the design of new drug compounds.

Each dosage strength of Entresto tablets includes a “co-crystal” made of “supramolecular synthons” containing the drug’s active ingredients, according to a complaint filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California.

Supramolecular synthons are structural units formed with intermolecular interactions. In Entresto—whose active ingredients are sacubitril and valsartan—such synthons are formed between the ...