Amphastar Secures Defense Win in Patent Infringement Matter Against Sanofi-Aventis

Successfully defended generic drug maker Amphastar Pharmaceuticals in a patent infringement suit brought by France’s Sanofi-Aventis.  A federal judge invalidated Sanofi’s patent for Lovenox, a blood thinner used to fight blood clotting and heart attacks, stating that Sanofi committed “inequitable conduct” to get its patent. The ruling stems from a three-year case in which Sanofi sued Amphastar and Israeli partner Teva Pharmaceuticals Industrials Ltd., which has major operations in Irvine, when they started developing a generic version of Lovenox.