Amgen Scores Partial Victory in Patent Suit

Amgen Inc. was handed a split decision in the latest round of its ongoing patent fight with a Japanese company over a new biotechnology drug that fights anemia. Thousand Oaks-based Amgen is trying to become the first company to sell the drug--erythropoietin, or EPO--in the United States.

An International Trade Commission administrative law judge, Sidney Harris, rejected an Amgen claim that a competitor, Chugai Pharmaceutical of Tokyo, has imported its version of EPO in violation of Amgen’s patent. But Harris upheld the validity of Amgen’s patent, which Chugai had challenged. The case now goes before the full ITC.