2 Drug Makers Sue Over Zevalin
Two drug companies claimed in a federal lawsuit Wednesday that Idec Pharmaceuticals Corp.’s promising lymphoma treatment infringes their patents.
Corixa Corp. and Britain-based GlaxoSmithKline said they are seeking a court order that would prevent Idec from selling Zevalin, an experimental drug that uses radioactivity to kill tumors. Corixa and GlaxoSmithKline are developing a rival cancer drug.
Corixa Chairman and Chief Executive Steven Gillis said in an interview that the suit, which could take more than a year to resolve, shouldn’t prevent Idec from launching Zevalin. He said Corixa and GlaxoSmithKline are not seeking a temporary injunction that would immediately halt sales. Gillis added that the two firms are willing to license their technology to Idec.
A spokesman for San Diego-based Idec said the company hadn’t seen the suit and had no comment.
Patient advocates said they hoped the suit wouldn’t keep the lymphoma treatment off the market. Zevalin does not cure non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a cancer that attacks the immune system, but it appears to reduce the size and number of tumors in gravely ill patients with no other options.
“I would hope that whatever the legal decision is, it would not prevent this drug from hitting the marketplace,” said Alan Kinninburgh, research vice president with the Leukmia Lymphoma Society. “Monetary penalties can be dealt with after the fact, but patients’ lives can’t be dealt with after the fact.”
The lawsuit comes one day after a key regulatory panel endorsed Zevalin for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma patients for whom other treatments have failed. The Food and Drug Administration typically follows the advice of its expert committees.
Seattle-based Corixa and GlaxoSmithKline’s rival drug trails Zevalin in the regulatory process by at least three months. The first drug that goes to market will have a critical sales advantage, some analysts believe. The drugs would be the first radioactive medications.
The suit, filed in federal court in Delaware, claims Zevalin violates three patents that a Corixa unit has licensed from the University of Michigan. The patents, according to Gillis, cover the composition and use of radioactive antibody treatments for lymphoma. They expire in 2013 and 2014, he said.
Gillis noted that Idec, in a recent regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, noted the three patents held by Corixa could adversely affect its ability to market Zevalin.
“They’ve known about this for some time but they have yet to contact us,” Gillis said.
Idec started the legal battle Tuesday with a suit in federal court in San Diego against Corixa and GlaxoSmithKline. Idec asked the court to declare that Zevalin did not violate six patents held by Corixa and two held by GlaxoSmithKline. Idec spokesman Vince Reardon declined to identify the patents or to provide a copy of the suit. He said Idec has a “portfolio of patents” that cover Zevalin.
Gillis said the litigation should not leave patients without a radioactive drug. Should Corixa and GlaxoSmithKline prevail in court, they will seek to remove Zevalin from the market. But by that time, the Corixa-GlaxoSmithKline drug, Bexxar, should be available, he said.
