Roche's bid to muscle in on Shire's share of the $11 billion hemophilia drug market took a new turn this weekend when the British drugmaker won a court injunction against how the Swiss drugmaker talks about its new medicine. Shire's injunction alleges incomplete and misleading statements by Roche about its investigational emicizumab.
ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss drugmaker Roche's (RHHBY) bid to take a chunk of the $11 billion hemophilia drug market dominated by Shire (SHPG) took another blow with the Irish company winning a preliminary injunction over its Swiss rival's medication.
Shire said its injunction in a court in Germany, where Roche presented data on its drug emicizumab on Monday, sought to remedy Roche's "incomplete and misleading" statements about the role of Shire's drug FEIBA in adverse events in Roche trials.
The fight underscores the high stakes of emicizumab's approaching arrival on the hemophilia A market, with some analysts estimating $5 billion in annual sales. That would poach business from Shire's older drugs for the condition in which sufferers' blood does not clot properly.
Roche blamed several instances of thromboembolic events, including damage to blood vessels in vital organs, in hemophilia A patients on Shire's bypassing agent. It recommended doctors avoid using FEIBA, if possible, to treat bleeds that developed in patients, despite getting emicizumab.
Shire, which says Roche "unlawfully disparaged" FEIBA, said it aimed "to prevent further dissemination of the inaccurate and misleading characterisation of the serious adverse events" in the Roche trial.
While Shire's drug carries warnings for thromboembolic events, Juliana Dierks, its global haematology franchise head, said Roche has failed to provide adequate data to back up its claim.
"To imply a cause-and-effect of FEIBA having caused the severe adverse events is misleading," Dierks told Reuters. "We are looking forward to transparency. Give us the data, give us the facts."
No comments:
Post a Comment