Amgen Sues to Stop Rival Drug

Amgen Inc., the world’s largest biotechnology company, said Wednesday that it had sued Roche Holding Ltd., accusing the drug maker of infringing six patents covering its Epogen anemia treatment.

Thousand Oaks-based Amgen said the suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Boston, sought an injunction to prevent Roche from making or selling recombinant human erythropoietin, including “pegylated” versions that last longer in the body.

Roger Perlmutter, head of research and development at Amgen, said Tuesday that Roche’s new anemia drug Cera “falls squarely within our [erythropoietin] patent estate.”

Roche, however, sees no impediment to a U.S. launch of Cera, said William Burns, head of the Basel, Switzerland-based company’s pharmaceutical division.

“We have our published patents in the United States,” he said in a telephone interview.

“We are not patent busters; we are people who respect patents.”

Cera is designed to trigger the formation of red blood cells and to last longer in the body than Epogen, which Amgen sells in the United States as a treatment for anemia in patients on kidney dialysis.

Amgen also sells Aranesp, a longer-lasting version of Epogen. It is marketed domestically as a treatment for kidney dialysis patients as well as for anemia in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.

Amgen’s combined sales of Epogen and Aranesp totaled $5.1 billion last year.

Amgen shares rose 42 cents to $80.22.