Roche / Novartis: Peleas de "hermanos"...por Valcyte

Roche Holding AG’s Genentech unit sued Sandoz Inc. for planning to sell a generic version of Valcyte, which treats a virus that afflicts transplant patients and people with AIDS, before Genentech’s patent expires.

Sandoz, a unit of Basel, Switzerland-based Novartis AG, told Genentech on March 9 that it had applied for approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to make a generic of Valcyte, according to the complaint filed today in federal court in San Francisco.

Genentech, based in South San Francisco, California, said the plan to market the generic will cause “massive infringement” of its patent. Genentech seeks a court order declaring that the Sandoz generic is a patent-infringing drug, blocking the FDA from approving the drug until Genentech’s patent expires and barring Sandoz from engaging in commercial activity that would infringe the Genentech patent.

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