US District Court has rules against Natco's cancer drug Imbruvica

Natco Pharma on August 20 said a US District Court has ruled against the company and its partner Alvogen, in patent litigation related to AbbVie's Imbruvica. Imbruvica is used in the treatment of certain blood cancers.

Natco along with its partner Alvogen is reviewing the judgement and said it will evaluate all options to appeal the judgement.

Delaware federal court upheld four patents related to their blockbuster cancer drug Imbruvica. AbbVie's Pharmacyclics owns the patents. AbbVie and Johnson & Johnson's Janssen Biotech market the drug.

As per industry sales data, Imbruvica (tablet and capsule dosage forms) had generated annual sales of $3.7 billion during the twelve months period ending December 2020 in the US market, of this, all the strengths of Imbruvica tablets alone generated sales of $3.0 billion during the same period.