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High Court Turns Down Amgen's Appeal in Patent Case
The Associated Press
Christopher S. Rugaber
May 15, 2007

The Supreme Court on Monday declined to consider a patent dispute between biotech drug maker Amgen Inc. and two other companies involving Amgen's blockbuster anemia drug Epogen.

Despite passing on this case, justices have shown a heightened interest in patent law recently, taking up a half-dozen cases in the past two years and issuing two high-profile decisions in April.

Amgen initiated the dispute in 1997 when it accused Aventis Pharmaceuticals Inc., a unit of Paris-based Sanofi-Aventis SA, and Shire Human Genetic Therapies Inc., a division of British drug developer Shire PLC, of infringing its patents on Epogen. Aventis was previously known as Hoechst Marion Roussel Corp.

A federal district court largely agreed with Amgen's claims, but the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a mixed decision last year, ruling that two of Amgen's patents were valid while reversing the lower court's findings on two others.

Amgen urged the Supreme Court to rule on the Federal Circuit's practice of considering the factual record behind its patent claims, even though that record was also subject to thorough review at the district court level. Typically, appeals courts such as the Federal Circuit consider issues of law rather than fact.

The Federal Circuit's willingness to reconsider the factual aspects of the case "produces incorrect results and causes litigants and district courts to waste tremendous resources," Amgen said in its court filing.

Amgen received $2.5 billion in revenue from Epogen sales in 2006.

The case is Amgen Inc. v. Hoechst Marion Roussel Inc., 06-1291.