Amgen Seeks Court Order Protecting Right to Drug

Amgen Inc., a Thousand Oaks biotechnology concern, is seeking a court order protecting its right to a drug that a rival company has claimed infringes on its own patent.

Amgen said it filed a complaint in U. S. District Court in Boston, asking the court to rule that its drug homogeneous erythropoietin (EPO) does not infringe on a patent held by Genetics Institute Inc. of Cambridge, Mass. In June, Genetics Institute filed a lawsuit in federal court in Delaware alleging that Amgen-produced EPO, sold in the United States by Ortho Pharmaceutical Corp., infringes on a Genetics Institute patent.

Amgen maintains that any dispute over the patents for the genetically engineered EPO has been resolved by earlier litigation. Last year, Genetics Institute agreed to pay $14 million to Amgen to settle its longstanding patent dispute over EPO, and both companies were granted patents on artificially produced EPO.

EPO is a protein produced by the kidneys that regulates the production and release of red blood cells. It is given to kidney dialysis and cancer chemotherapy patients to boost their red blood cell production.