Patent infringement: Lupin's arm to pay damages to Bayer

An Australian court has asked Generic Health to pay A$30 million to Bayer Pharmaceuticals

The Federal Court of Australia has ruled against pharma major Lupin’s Australian arm, Generic Health, in a patent infringement case with Bayer Pharmaceuticals.

In the order, the Australian court has asked Generic Health to pay an amount of A$30 million to Bayer Pharmaceuticals for causing loss of revenue. Bayer had sued Generic Health for infringement of its patent for a contraceptive called Yasmin.

Lupin did not respond to queries sent by Business Standard.

Bayer, which markets a contraceptive called Yasmin, had alleged that Generic Health violated the patent by marketing Isabelle. The court observed that for Bayer, every sale of Isabelle led to a loss of sale of Yasmin. The company sought only damages against seeking a portion of the profits made by the company on the sale of Isabelle in the Australian market. Bayer’s initial suit against Generic Health was for infringement of its Australian patent, for sale of competing product Isabelle. However, during the proceedings in 2012, Bayer amended the claims of the patent.

Global portal for patent news Lexology.com calls this decision “landmark”. It says, “This sets a new benchmark in Australia for future damages claims against generic manufacturers.  The court’s willingness to adequately compensate the patent holder enhances Australia’s already very attractive “value proposition” for patentees.” Lupin acquired majority stake in Generic Health in 2010. This acquisition gave it access to the Australian pharmaceutical market.

This is not the first case where Lupin is entangled in a patent infringement case. Soon after the company finished the acquisition of US-based Gavis pharmaceuticals, last year, Horizon Pharmaceuticals filed a patent infringement case against the company for filing an Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) for a generic version of Pennsaid, an anti-inflammatory non-steroidal drug. Horizon filed a case against the Mumbai-headquartered pharmaceutical company in the District Court of New Jersey.

A number of patent infringement cases have been filed against leading Indian pharmaceutical companies and their counterparts in other countries over the last few years. A number of them have been in the United States of America. The list includes Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, Aurobindo Pharmaceuticals, Aurobindo Pharmaceutical’s US counterpart and, Bengaluru-based Biocon.

Indian pharmaceutical companies have been facing intense pressure on account of anti-trust cases too in the US. Recent cases include investigation into leading companies such as Sun Pharmaceuticals, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories among others.