Roche Dealt Setback in Epo Patent Wars

The U.S. District Court in Boston ruled against Roche in an erythropoietin patent dispute yesterday, dealing a temporary setback to that company's ongoing effort to bring competition to the U.S. EPO market. The full trial opens next week. Amgen holds the exclusive patents for EPO, which don't begin running out until August 2012, according to the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

This case ought to cause some head scratching on Capitol Hill, which can't seem to get it together to pass a law allowing generic companies to make biotechnology drugs. Epogen received approval from the Food and Drug Administration in 1989. In 2012, the company will have had 23 years of post-approval market exclusivity. That's three years longer than the maximum allowable length of patent terms under U.S. law.