[Multibilly]

Status of generic Revlimid (lenalidomide)

by Multibilly on Thu Jan 24, 2019 9:35 am

Interesting article on the latest battles being fought to bring generic Revlimid to the market.

"Biggest pharma deal ever faces aging patents, tough politics," The Post Bulletin, January 4, 2019 (link to full text of article)

Excerpt:

"Celgene’s biggest drug is Revlimid, a cancer blockbuster that in 2017 brought in an estimated $9.7 billion in sales -- almost two-thirds of the company’s revenue. While it has a thicket of more than 20 patents that could protect it until as late as 2028, they’re under assault by generic-drug makers eager for a slice of Revlimid’s sales.

Celgene reached a settlement with generic drugmaker Natco Pharma Ltd. to allow for a limited number of Revlimid pills starting in March of 2022. But there’s a risk that another generic-drug maker, India’s Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd., could upend that agreement and flood the market with cheap rivals much sooner.

Dr. Reddy’s has been locked in a legal battle with Celgene over its own generic form of Revlimid, arguing that its version doesn’t infringe Revlimid’s patents. If a judge agrees, Dr. Reddy’s could be in a position to launch a generic drug as soon as late 2020, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Aude Gerspacher. In that case, Natco would likely be able to start selling their version sooner too, she said.

“Everyone thought they were going to settle over a year ago and they haven’t,” Gerspacher said, calling the Dr. Reddy’s litigation “the big legal overhang for Celgene right now.”

Bristol-Myers said Thursday that it had modeled for a variety of scenarios around Revlimid and was using conservative assumptions about the drug’s future."

[Nancy Shamanna]

Re: Status of generic Revlimid (lenalidomide)

by Nancy Shamanna on Thu Jan 24, 2019 10:01 am

Thanks for posting this article, Mutibilly.