U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Amgen Over Cholesterol Medication Patent Fight

By Jan Wolfe

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up Amgen Inc's bid to reinstate a jury verdict it won against rivals Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc and Sanofi SA in patent dispute over PCSK9-inhibiting cholesterol medications.

The justices turned away Amgen's appeal of a 2017 decision by a lower court to set aside a jury's verdict that two Amgen patents were valid and nullify a ban on sales of Regeneron and Sanofi SA's cholesterol-lowering drug Praluent (alirocumab).

Thousand Oaks, California-based Amgen had sued Regeneron and Sanofi in 2014, alleging that Praluent infringed patents relating to Amgen's competing drug Repatha (evolocumab).

Amgen had argued that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit misunderstood the statutory requirements for patenting an invention.

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