Roche has sued to block Pfizer from selling a biosimilar of its breast-cancer drug Herceptin in the United States. In a complaint filed in federal court in Delaware, Roche's Genentech unit alleges that Pfizer’s proposed drug would infringe 40 patents.
Roche also is seeking compensation for lost sales if Pfizer launches its product before patents related to Herceptin expire.
According to Bloomberg, Herceptin earned $2.5 billion in U.S. sales in 2016 which accounted for 5 percent of Roche’s annual revenue.
Pfizer is seeking FDA approval of its version of Herceptin, called PF-05280014.
The case is Genentech v. Pfizer, 17-cv-1672, U.S. District Court, District of Delaware (Wilmington).
Read the Bloomberg report