November 7, 2014
Favorable judgment ends multi-year litigation and provides high-quality, lower-cost alternative to patients.
Willkie client Hospira, Inc. recently scored an important win in a patent infringement case filed against it by AbbVie Inc. On October 24, 2014, the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware ruled that Hospira’s generic paricalcitol product does not infringe AbbVie’s U.S. Patent No. 6,136,799. The decision followed a bench trial conducted in November 2013. Other generic companies had taken a different approach than Hospira, and settled their cases before trial. Hospira’s courtroom victory paved the way for it to provide U.S. dialysis patients with its high-quality, lower-cost alternative to AbbVie’s Zemplar injection product. As of November 1, Hospira was the only supplier of a generic paricalcitol injection product in the market.
Hospira is the world leader in generic injectable pharmaceuticals and obtained U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for its paricalcitol product on October 21, 2014. Hospira's paricalcitol product is indicated for the prevention and treatment of secondary hyperparathyroidism associated with chronic kidney disease Stage 5.
Hospira’s case was tried by partner Thomas Meloro, of counsel Michael Johnson, and associate Heather Schneider. The litigation team also included partner Jeffrey Korn, and associates Sara O’Brien and Aparnaa Saini.
