Samsung Bioepis in litigations in many countries over world No. 1 'Humira biosimilar'

(Samsung Bioepis)

By Kwang-Ho Lee

Samsung Bioepis sued a German biopharmaceutical firm, Fresenius Kabi, for patent infringement.

The litigation is over the patent on the formulation of biosimilar for Humira, the top-selling drug in the world.

First begun in Europe in 2018, their legal battle has recently developed into a dispute in Australia.

According to Australian media, the Korean biopharmaceutical company recently filed a lawsuit against its German rival over the patent on the formulation of Humira biosimilar.

The two companies have been under dispute for a long time.

When Bioepis entered the European market in 2018, Fresenius preemptively filed a lawsuit in Denmark to call for a ban on sales of the Korean firm’s products.

Their legal disputes also erupted in the U.K., the Netherlands and Canada.

Bioepis won all the concluded cases, and Fresenius lodged appeals against some rulings.

Against this backdrop, a legal battle recurred in Australia, where they had reached an agreement a few years ago.

Amid their lingering conflict, another producer of Humira biosimilar, Celltrion, said it has never been embroiled in lawsuits with other biosimilar companies over the drug.

In 2019, Samsung Bioepis even won in a lawsuit against a Hungarian pharmaceutical company, Gedeon Richter, over the patent on the same drug.

At this moment, the most popular Humira biosimilar is Amgen’s product. It was prescribed the most in Europe during the second quarter, and is set to be released in the U.S. earlier than the others.

*This was translated from the article originally written in Korean. For more accurate information, please refer to the original version by using the link below. In case of discrepancies between the two versions, the Korean version shall prevail.

https://biz.sbs.co.kr/article/20000075766

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