Biocon rallies as PTAB rules in its favour

Biocon made an announcement that U.S. Patent and Trademark Appeal Board (PTAB) has administered in favour of Biocon's partner, Mylan, in inter partes review (IPR) proceedings, regarding all challenged claims of Sanofi's Lantus SoloSTAR device patents, U.S. Patent Nos. 8,603,044, 8,992,486, and 9,526,844, as unpatentable.

The PTAB regarded three claims of the 9,604,008 patent as unpatentable, and two claims to be patentable. Nonetheless, Mylan and Biocon have previously obtained a covenant not to sue from Sanofi on the '008 patent and therefore, this ruling does not have a consequence on Biocon and Mylan's ability to commercialize Semgle (Insulin Glargine) upon final approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The PTAB also found Sanofi's suggested amended claims for the '486 and '844 patents to be unpatentable.

According to IQVIA, Lantus and SoloStar sales in the US stood at UD$ 1.7 billion and US$ 4.32 billion for 12 months ending March 2020.

Biocon Biologics and Mylan are exclusive partners on a broad portfolio of biosimilar and insulin products. Insulin Glargine is among the 11 biologic products being co-developed by Biocon Biologics and Mylan for the global marketplace.

Biocon's stock in today's trading session rallied nearly 3 per cent to touch an intraday high of Rs 365 apiece.