Judge to Review Amgen’s Claim of Patents Violation

A U.S. District Court judge said he will review a request by Thousand Oaks-based Amgen, the world’s largest biotech company, for a quick decision on claims that tiny rival Transkaryotic Therapies violated Amgen patents by developing a product similar to its best-selling drug Epogen.

Judge William Young told the two companies that he will schedule hearings as soon as possible to review Amgen’s claims, company spokesman David Kaye said. Besides ruling on Amgen’s claims of patent infringement, the court will review separately a claim by Transkaryotic of Cambridge, Mass., that Amgen’s patents are not valid. That issue will be considered in a trial that begins in April.

The two sides are battling over rights to the global market for a protein drug whose chemical name is erythropoietin. It treats anemia by stimulating and regulating production of red blood cells.

Erythropoietin, which analysts estimate has annual global sales in excess of $3 billion, is marketed in the United States by Amgen under the name Epogen. Amgen holds the rights to sell the drug to dialysis patients, and Johnson & Johnson sells it for all other uses under the brand name Procrit.