Sanofi Sees Antitrust Suit Over Diabetes Drug Lantus Revived (1)

Sanofi-Aventis U.S. LLC must face claims it improperly used an FDA patent-listing process to hold off competition, after the First Circuit revived an antitrust suit against the drugmaker Thursday.

Sanofi’s patent on the diabetes drug Lantus—the brand name for insulin glargine—was set to expire in 2014, with regulatory exclusivity ending in 2015.

The proposed class of direct insulin glargine purchasers adequately alleged Sanofi shouldn’t have submitted a new, inapplicable patent to the Food and Drug Administration’s “Orange Book,” which helped the pharmaceutical firm delay the approval of competing drugs, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit said. ...