Astellas US LLC v. Hospira, Inc.

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
DecidedDecember 30, 2022
Docket22-1878
StatusUnpublished

This text of Astellas US LLC v. Hospira, Inc. (Astellas US LLC v. Hospira, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Astellas US LLC v. Hospira, Inc., (Fed. Cir. 2022).

Opinion

Case: 22-1878 Document: 62 Page: 1 Filed: 12/30/2022

NOTE: This disposition is nonprecedential.

United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ______________________

ASTELLAS US LLC, ASTELLAS PHARMA US, INC., GILEAD SCIENCES, INC., Plaintiffs-Appellants

v.

HOSPIRA, INC., Defendant-Appellee ______________________

2022-1878 ______________________

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Delaware in No. 1:18-cv-01675-CFC-CJB, Chief Judge Colm F. Connolly. ______________________

Decided: December 30, 2022 ______________________

PAUL WHITFIELD HUGHES, McDermott Will & Emery LLP, Washington, DC, argued for all plaintiffs-appellants. Plaintiffs-appellants Astellas US LLC, Astellas Pharma US, Inc. also represented by IAN BARNETT BROOKS; JASON ALBERT LEONARD, New York, NY.

W. CHAD SHEAR, Fish & Richardson P.C., San Diego, CA, for plaintiff-appellant Gilead Sciences, Inc. Also rep- resented by ELIZABETH M. FLANAGAN, Minneapolis, MN; Case: 22-1878 Document: 62 Page: 2 Filed: 12/30/2022

ROBERT M. OAKES, Wilmington, DE; LISA M. FERRI, MANUEL JOSE VELEZ, Mayer Brown, LLP, New York, NY.

CHARLES B. KLEIN, Winston & Strawn LLP, Washing- ton, DC, argued for defendant-appellee. Also represented by CLAIRE A. FUNDAKOWSKI, JOVIAL WONG; ALISON MICHELLE KING, Chicago, IL. ______________________

Before DYK, REYNA, and CUNNINGHAM, Circuit Judges. DYK, Circuit Judge

Gilead Sciences, Inc., Astellas US LLC, and Astellas Pharma US, Inc. (together, “Astellas”) sued Hospira, Inc., alleging that Hospira’s abbreviated new drug application (“ANDA”) infringed three patents that cover Form A re- gadenoson (U.S. Patent Nos. 8,106,183; RE47,301; and 8,524,883), a monohydrate (hydrate that contains one mol- ecule of water in the crystal lattice for every molecule of the compound) form of regadenoson that can be used to in- crease blood flow to mimic a cardiac stress test. Astellas’s theory was not that Hospira intentionally created Form A regadenoson, but that this occurred inadvertently in the production process for an intermediate product made by a third party and incorporated by Hospira into its final prod- uct. Before trial, Hospira amended its ANDA, allegedly making it more difficult for Astellas to prove its original infringement theory. Astellas then sought to present a new and previously unasserted infringement theory (that Hos- pira’s own process created Form A regadenoson). The district court found this new theory to be untimely and granted Hospira’s motion to strike the new infringe- ment contentions and the related expert evidence. The trial went forward on Astellas’s original infringement the- ory, updated with supplemental evidence, and the district court found that Hospira did not infringe. Astellas appeals Case: 22-1878 Document: 62 Page: 3 Filed: 12/30/2022

ASTELLAS US LLC v. HOSPIRA, INC. 3

only the district court’s exclusion of the new theory. We hold that the district court did not abuse its discretion in excluding the new infringement theory, and we affirm. BACKGROUND This case concerns U.S. Patent Nos. 8,106,183; RE47,301; and 8,524,883 (the “Form A patents”), all of which are owned by Astellas. The asserted patent claims all recite, or depend from independent claims that recite, Form A regadenoson, the most stable and only known mon- ohydrate crystalline form of regadenoson. 1 Hospira, Inc. is one generic manufacturer that filed an ANDA with a paragraph IV certification for a generic drug product with Form G regadenoson as the active pharma- ceutical ingredient (“API”), a compound not covered by the asserted patents. Hospira bought its API from Curia Mis- souri, Inc. (“Curia”), formerly Euticals, Inc., 2 meaning Hos- pira’s ANDA relied on and incorporated Curia’s Drug Master File (“DMF”). A DMF is a confidential submission to the FDA that provides detailed information about the processes used to manufacture a drug. Curia created the API by converting crude regadenoson to Form F re- gadenoson (also not covered by the asserted patents) and then to Form G regadenoson. However, when these forms “are exposed to a sufficient amount of water, including wa- ter in the air (i.e., humidity) and in reagents, they will con- vert to Form A.” J.A. 176. Hospira and Curia were aware of the risk of conversion and wanted to avoid conversion during Curia’s manufacturing process.

1 Astellas owned other regadenoson patents covering a broader array of regadenoson compounds and structures. The last of these patents expired April 10, 2022. 2 Because the distinction is immaterial, Euticals, Inc. will also be referred to as “Curia.” Case: 22-1878 Document: 62 Page: 4 Filed: 12/30/2022

Hospira’s ANDA product is created by a compounding process in which Curia’s intermediate Form G product is dissolved in a water-based solution. Again, there is a risk that water exposure could cause Form G regadenoson to convert to Form A regadenoson. However, Hospira claims that the introduction of water during the compounding pro- cess does not cause conversion to Form A regadenoson be- cause Form G dissolves directly in the compounding solution. This case involves two separate infringement theories provided by Astellas. The first is the intermediate theory which is that the Form A patents are infringed because Form A regadenoson is created during the manufacturing of the Form G intermediate by Curia. The second is the compounding theory which is that infringement of the Form A patents occurs when the Form G intermediate con- verts to Form A regadenoson during Hospira’s own com- pounding process. On June 30, 2020, shortly after Astellas was notified that Hospira filed its ANDA, Astellas sued Hospira for in- fringement of the Form A patents in the District of Dela- ware, and the case was consolidated with similar cases Astellas had brought against Apotex, Inc. and other generic manufacturers who had filed their own ANDAs. The AN- DAs were filed with a paragraph IV certification, which stated that the listed patents, the Form A patents in this case, are “invalid or will not be infringed by the manufac- ture, use, or sale of the [generic] drug . . . .” 21 U.S.C. § 355(j)(2)(A)(vii)(IV); see also 35 U.S.C. § 271(e)(2)(A). As- tellas’s theory was that these filings were acts of infringe- ment. Proving infringement requires showing that the ANDA product proposed to be sold under the ANDA would in- fringe. Astellas’s original infringement theory as to Hos- pira was the intermediate theory which was, as the district Case: 22-1878 Document: 62 Page: 5 Filed: 12/30/2022

ASTELLAS US LLC v. HOSPIRA, INC. 5

court found, “that crude and Forms F and G regadenoson have ‘a propensity’ to convert to Form A when exposed to water, and that water is introduced into Curia’s . . . manu- facturing process.” J.A. 225. During discovery, Astellas’s expert specifically disclaimed any theory that infringement occurred during Hospira’s compounding process. See J.A. 1107. During the pendency of the infringement action, Curia amended its DMF to “optimize its manufacturing process to limit the presence of water.” J.A. 186 (internal quota- tion, alteration, and citations omitted). Hospira amended its ANDA with the only change being to incorporate the changes made by Curia. After Hospira amended its ANDA, the district court entered the order at issue here establish- ing supplemental fact discovery, supplemental expert dis- covery, and infringement contentions regarding Hospira’s amended ANDA.

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