Court papers filed Friday have some revealing facts — a forthcoming Roche drug for anemia may
have been made using the same “amino acid sequence and composition” as Amgen’s Epogen.

Wall Street analysts are buzzing about the details this morning because they think this bolsters Amgen’s lawsuit against Roche over patent infringement. A trial over Roche’s drug, with the Cera trade name, is scheduled for September.

“After years of mystery and intrigue, we think the answer is upon,” write Mark Schoenebaum, a Bear Stearns biotech analyst in a report this morning. “We think this Amgen’s probability of winning…has increased dramatically. If the market fully digests this development, we believe Amgen shares could trade up sharply today”.

As of 12 noon, Amgen stock is up 2.6 percent on heavy volume. In 2005, Epogen generated $2.5 billion, or 20 percent of Amgen revenue. Last year’s results are due this Thursday.

Roche wants FDA approval for patients with kidney disease, and argues its drug acts differently in stimulating red blood cell production and lasts longer in the body than Epogen. But that’s something a court will eventually decide.

..

[tags]Amgen, Epogen, Patent Infringement, Roche[/tags]