Aurinia Pharmaceuticals has struck a patent infringement settlement with Teva Pharmaceuticals, which should help stave off Teva's proposed generic to its lupus drug Lupkynis (voclosporin) in the United States until December of 2036.
The timing remains in place unless “certain defined contingencies occur earlier,” Aurinia wrote in a release. The deal also assumes that Teva will gain FDA approval of its version of voclosporin.
With the announcement providing more clarity on how long Aurinia can retain its market protection for Lupkynis, the company’s share price increased by 7% on Thursday.
This is not the first time Aurinia has resolved a patent infringement case involving Lupkynis, which was approved in 2021. Two years later in 2023, Aurinia settled with India’s Sun Pharma as the companies agreed to file a joint motion to terminate an ongoing Inter Partes Review (IPR) directed at Aurinia’s original patent for voclosporin. That came in exchange for Aurinia dropping a patent infringement challenge related to Sun’s branded dry eye disease eye drops Cequa.
An IPR is a re-review by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to determine if a patent is valid. Third party companies can present IPR challenges, based on prior art, in lieu of filing more costly and lengthy patent infringement lawsuits.
