In a closely watched patent battle, the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously ruled against California-based drugmaker Amgen, affirming a lower court’s decision that Amgen’s French rival Sanofi didn’t infringe on patents on a cholesterol-lowering antibody drug.
The long-running feud involves two rival drugs: Praluent, developed by Sanofi and New York partner Regeneron and greenlit by the FDA in July 2015, and Amgen’s Repatha, which won federal approval just a few weeks later. Both drugs are monoclonal antibodies that help lower “bad” LDL cholesterol by blocking a protein called PCSK9.
