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Litigation
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2020
Litigation  
Litigation Litigation
Sandoz Antitrust Litigation
On April 16, 2019, Sandoz Inc. (Sandoz) and its commercialization collaborator, RareGen, LLC, filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey against us and Smiths Medical ASD, Inc. (Smiths Medical), alleging that we and Smiths Medical engaged in anticompetitive conduct in connection with plaintiffs’ efforts to launch their generic version of Remodulin. In particular, the complaint alleges that we and Smiths Medical unlawfully impeded competition by entering into an agreement to produce CADD-MS®3 cartridges specifically for the delivery of subcutaneous Remodulin, without making these cartridges available for the delivery of Sandoz’s generic version of Remodulin. The parties completed expedited discovery in anticipation of a motion filed by the plaintiffs on October 4, 2019, seeking preliminary injunctive relief. We and Smiths
Medical filed a motion to dismiss the complaint, and we filed our opposition to plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction on October 25, 2019. On January 29, 2020, the Court issued a decision denying the request for preliminary injunction sought by Sandoz and RareGen. According to the Court, “[Sandoz and RareGen] have not met their burden of demonstrating a reasonable probability of eventual success in the litigation.” The Court also denied our and Smiths Medical’s motion to dismiss the entire action. Plaintiffs declined to appeal the Court’s denial of their motion for preliminary injunction. The parties are currently engaged in discovery, and we do not anticipate a trial before late 2021 at the earliest.
On March 30, 2020, the plaintiffs filed an amended complaint in which Sandoz added a count alleging that we breached our earlier patent settlement agreement with Sandoz by refusing to grant Sandoz access to cartridges. We filed a motion to dismiss that count on April 17, 2020.
We believe plaintiffs’ claims to be meritless and intend to vigorously defend the litigation. However, due to the uncertainty inherent in any litigation, we cannot guarantee that an adverse outcome will not result. Any litigation of this nature could involve substantial cost, and an adverse outcome could result in substantial monetary damages and/or injunctive relief adverse to our business. We currently are not able to reasonably estimate a range of potential losses due to the early stage of the litigation.
Patent Litigation with Liquidia Technologies, Inc.
On March 30, 2020, Liquidia Technologies, Inc. (Liquidia) filed two petitions for inter partes review (IPR) with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). In its petitions, Liquidia seeks to invalidate U.S. Patent Nos. 9,604,901 (the ’901 patent) and 9,593,066 (the ’066 patent), both of which relate to a method of making treprostinil, the active pharmaceutical ingredient in our Remodulin, Tyvaso, and Orenitram products. These patents were issued in March 2017 and are listed in the FDA’s Approved Drug Products with Therapeutic Equivalence Evaluations publication, also known as the Orange Book, for Remodulin, Tyvaso, and Orenitram. In mid-July, 2020 we filed preliminary responses to the petitions. On October 13, 2020, the PTAB declined to institute IPR proceedings on the ’066 patent because Liquidia failed to establish a reasonable likelihood of success on prevailing on any claim relating to the ’066 patent. Also on October 13, 2020, the PTAB instituted IPR proceedings on the ‘901 patent, finding that Liquidia had established a reasonable likelihood of success on prevailing on some of the claims of the ’901 patent. We expect the PTAB will issue a final written decision regarding the ’901 patent IPR, following additional submissions by the parties, around October 2021. Any appeals of the PTAB’s final written decision would delay any final outcome.
In January 2020, Liquidia submitted an NDA to the FDA for approval of LIQ861, a dry powder inhalation formulation of treprostinil. This NDA was submitted under the 505(b)(2) regulatory pathway with Tyvaso as the reference listed drug. On April 8, 2020, Liquidia announced that the FDA had accepted its NDA and set a Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) target action date of November 24, 2020.
In April 2020, we received a Paragraph IV Certification Notice Letter (Notice Letter) from Liquidia, stating that it intends to market LIQ861 before the expiration of all patents currently listed in the Orange Book for Tyvaso. The Notice Letter states that Liquidia’s NDA for LIQ861 contains a Paragraph IV certification alleging that these patents are not valid, not enforceable, and/or will not be infringed by the commercial manufacture, use or sale of LIQ861.
On June 4, 2020, we filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware against Liquidia for infringement of the ’901 patent and the ’066 patent, both of which expire in December 2028. We filed our lawsuit within 45 days of receipt of notice from Liquidia of its NDA filing. As a result, under the Hatch-Waxman Act, the FDA is precluded by regulation from approving Liquidia’s NDA for up to 30 months or until the resolution of the litigation, whichever occurs first. On July 16, 2020, Liquidia filed an answer to our complaint that included counterclaims alleging, among other things, that the patents at issue in the litigation are not valid and will not be infringed by the commercial manufacture, use or sale of LIQ861. 
On July 21, 2020, the USPTO issued a new patent to us related to Tyvaso. The new patent, U.S. Patent No. 10,716,793 (the ’793 patent), expires May 14, 2027, and is listed in the Orange Book for Tyvaso. On July 22, 2020, we filed an amended complaint against Liquidia to include a claim for infringement of the ’793 patent. The ’793 patent relates to a method of administering treprostinil via inhalation and includes claims covering the dosing regimen used to administer Tyvaso. On August 5, 2020, Liquidia filed an answer to our amended complaint that repeated its defenses and counterclaims and added new defenses and counterclaims related to the ’793 patent. On August 26, 2020, we filed a motion to dismiss Liquidia’s invalidity defenses with respect to the ’793 patent based on assignor estoppel. That motion has been briefed, and we await the district court’s decision. The district court set a schedule for the case, including a trial commencing on March 28, 2022.
We plan to vigorously enforce our intellectual property rights related to Tyvaso.
MSP Recovery Litigation
On July 27, 2020, MSP Recovery Claims, Series LLC; MSPA Claims 1, LLC; and Series PMPI, a designated series of MAO-MSO Recovery II, LLC (Plaintiffs) filed a “Class Action Complaint” (the Complaint) against Caring Voices Coalition, Inc. (CVC) and us in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. The Complaint alleges that we violated the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) act and various state laws by coordinating with CVC when making donations to a pulmonary arterial hypertension fund so that those donations would go towards copayment obligations for Medicare patients taking drugs manufactured and marketed by us. Plaintiffs claim to have received assignments from various Medicare Advantage health plans and other insurance entities that allow them to bring this lawsuit on behalf of those entities.
We intend to vigorously defend against this lawsuit.