Novo Nordisk Files Patent Infringement Suit Against Four Human Growth Hormone Manufacturers
On Oct. 6, Novo Nordisk A/S filed a patent infringement lawsuit in the US District Court for the District of New Jersey against four companies that manufacture and/or market biosynthetic human growth hormone products that compete with Novo Nordisk's Norditropin human growth hormone product in the US. These companies are Genentech, Inc., Eli Lilly & Company, Pharmacia & Upjohn Company, and Serono Laboratories, Inc. Novo Nordisk's suit charges these companies with infringing a recently issued Novo Nordisk product patent covering biosynthetic human growth hormone.
Bill Poole, president, Novo Nordisk Pharmaceuticals, Inc., said, "We will vigorously assert our patent against any competitor that violates it. By manufacturing and/or selling brands of biosynthetic human growth hormone, Genentech, Eli Lilly, Pharmacia & Upjohn and Serono all infringe our intellectual property, and deprive our company of sales, profits and royalties." Poole added, "However, this lawsuit will not result in any patients not receiving human growth hormone; it is our intent to protect our intellectual property."
In the lawsuit, Novo Nordisk alleges that Genentech, Inc., Eli Lilly & Company, Pharmacia & Upjohn Company and Serono Laboratories, Inc., have each manufactured and/or sold or offered to sell a biosynthetic human growth hormone product that infringes Novo Nordisk's United States Patent No. 5,633,352. Novo Nordisk has also asserted two other human growth hormone related patents against Eli Lilly in the same complaint. The tradenames of these products include Nutropin, Nutropin AQ, Humatrope, Genotropin, Serostim and Saizen.
Norditropin [somatropin (rDNA origin) for injection] The Novo Nordisk growth hormone Norditropin was first introduced in Europe in 1988. It was approved by the US FDA in 1995, but was blocked from entering the market until this year by ongoing litigation. Norditropin was launched in the US in February, 1997, and it is currently available in more than 75 countries. Novo Nordisk is the third largest producer of growth hormone in the world.
Novo Nordisk A/S is the world leader in insulin and diabetes care and also manufactures and markets a variety of other pharmaceutical products. Furthermore the company is the world's largest producer of industrial enzymes. Headquartered in Denmark, Novo Nordisk employs approximately 13,400 people in 61 countries and markets its products in 130 countries.