Tokyo, October 28, 2010 - Astellas Pharma Inc. (headquarters: Tokyo; President and CEO: Masafumi Nogimori; “Astellas”) and its US affiliate Astellas US LLC (headquarters: Deerfield, IL; “Astellas US”) jointly filed a patent infringement lawsuit in the United States against Nycomed US Inc. (“Nycomed”) in response to its submission of an abbreviated new drug application for a generic version of Astellas 0.1% tacrolimus ointment, which is sold under the trademark Protopic®. The patent infringement action was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey on October 27, 2010 requesting, among other things, an order that the date of approval of Nycomed’s ANDA not be earlier than the expiration of Astellas’ U.S. Patent Nos. 5,665,727 and 5,385,907 related to Protopic.
Protopic was developed by Astellas and has been marketed in 67 countries and areas since it was launched in Japan in 1999. In the United States, Astellas Pharma US, Inc. has been marketing the product since February 2001.
Astellas is committed to defending its patent rights.
