POZEN INC. v. Par Pharmaceutical, Inc.

800 F. Supp. 2d 789, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 86619, 2011 WL 3439527
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Texas
DecidedAugust 5, 2011
DocketCase 6:08 CV 437, 6:09 CV 3, 6:09 CV 182
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 800 F. Supp. 2d 789 (POZEN INC. v. Par Pharmaceutical, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
POZEN INC. v. Par Pharmaceutical, Inc., 800 F. Supp. 2d 789, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 86619, 2011 WL 3439527 (E.D. Tex. 2011).

Opinion

FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

LEONARD DAVIS, District Judge.

This case involves a dispute over obtaining approval to market and sell generic drugs under the Hatch-Waxman Act. Po-zen Inc. (“Pozen”) filed suit against Defendants Par Pharmaceutical Inc. (“Par”), Alphapharm Pty Ltd. (“Alphapharm”), and Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, Inc. (“DRL”) for patent infringement. 1 The case was tried on the merits without a jury and was taken under submission. The Court has considered the testimony, exhibits, arguments of counsel, and supporting memoranda, and details its Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law below pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 52(a). 2

I. BACKGROUND

Pozen is a pharmaceutical company founded by Dr. John Plachetka, who developed a migraine therapy that was patented and approved by the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”). The migraine therapy, which is marketed as Treximet, combines sumatriptan with naproxen in a single tablet.

Migraines are a chronic neurological disorder that cause various symptoms, includ *797 ing throbbing headache pain, photophobia (light sensitivity), phobophobia (sound sensitivity), and nausea. These symptoms can be intense and debilitating and can prevent a migraine sufferer from participating in normal, daily activities. 10/12/2010 A.M. TT at 70:20-72:5. While the specific underlying cause is unknown, vascular and neurological changes are attributed to migraines. Generally, vasodilation (enlargement of the blood vessels) stimulates the innervating nerve fibers, which leads to inflammation and subsequent pain. Id. at 74:17-76:3.

In the early 1980’s, using a protocol commonly referred to as “step care,” migraines sufferers were instructed to first take an analgesic (pain killer) to treat their migraine symptoms. If the symptoms did not subside within a few hours, patients were instructed to take a second, more potent medication such as a ergot alkaloid (a vasoconstrictor) or a narcotic. Id. at 72:6-73:25. However, these medications were insufficient because they treated the migraine symptoms and not the migraine mechanisms.

In the late 1980’s, GlaxoSmithKline (“GSK”) began developing sumatriptan, the first drug specifically targeting migraine pathway mechanisms. Id. at 76:4-77:16. Sumatriptan acts as an agonist to receptors in cranial arteries and veins, thus reducing the vascular inflammation that occurs with migraines. 3 Id. Sumatriptan was widely accepted as an effective medicine for migraines and adopted as the preferred secondary medication in the “step care” treatment of migraines. Id. at 77:19-78:7.

W/hile sumatriptan was hailed as a revolution in migraine therapy, it did not prevent migraine symptoms from reoccurring. To address this relapse, patients were instructed to re-treat their migraine symptoms with an additional administration of only sumatriptan. Thus, the predominate two step care therapy evolved into a monotherapy approach using repeated treatments of sumatriptan. Id. at 78:22-81:22. But the sumatriptan monotherapy still failed to quash relapse, so further research and efforts were poured into finding a solution to this problem. Given its effectiveness in treating migraine symptoms, the industry used sumatriptan as a template and focused on finding longer-lasting, more potent triptan-related therapies. These therapies were generally known as second generation triptans. Id. at 81:14-82:14.

Although the limelight was on further advancing triptan-related monotherapies, Dr. Plachetka developed an alternate theory for treating migraine relapse. Instead of additional research on sumatriptan therapies, Dr. Plachetka focused on the inflammation outside the blood vessel that was unaffected by sumatriptan. Id. at 84:24-86:21. This approach was unconventional because the art taught that sumatriptan effectively blocked inflammation. Id. However, Dr. Plachetka believed that migraine relapse results from a biological mechanism distinct from the mechanisms triptan addresses, and he recognized that a different therapy must be used to combat migraine recurrence. Id. As such, Dr. Plachetka reasoned that, to target and stop the full migraine process, sumatriptan must be simultaneously delivered with a second drug that targets this alternate, *798 relapse causing mechanism. Id. at 88:8— 88:19. Accordingly, Dr. Plachetka chose naproxen, a well known anti-inflammatory, to address residual inflammation. Id. at 89:1-12. He hypothesized that simultaneously dosing naproxen with sumatriptan would have a synergistic result and resolve both the initial migraine and reoccurring migraine symptoms. Id. at 88:8-89:15.

To illustrate, Dr. Plachetka’s solution is analogous to dousing a campfire. Sumatriptan acts like dumping a bucket of water on a roaring flame. However effective, there may be embers untouched by the water. Those embers, like inflammation, can reignite the blaze and cause a relapse of migraine symptoms. Seeing that sumatriptan worked before, the industry continued to throw water at the flame, with the development of second generation triptans. Noticing the inadequacies of this continued method, Dr. Plachetka recognized an additional, established way to extinguish the embers of inflammation, with naproxen. Id. at 87:3-22. By combining naproxen with sumatriptan in a single dose, Dr. Plachetka essentially kicked dirt over the smoldering ashes and smothered the migraine symptoms.

While Dr. Plachetka was committed to the combination therapy of naproxen and sumatriptan, the concept was unsupported by the art and industry leaders. Naproxen was not an FDA approved treatment for migraines; at most, it was viewed as a weak analgesic used to address headache pain. Id. at 90:12-91:10. In fact, GSK initially rejected Dr. Plachetka’s concept of simultaneous dosing of naproxen sodium with sumatriptan to mitigate migraine relapse. Id. at 97:11-98:7. Dr. Plachetka subsequently formed his own company, Po-zen, to develop the product and bring it to market.

Dr. Plachetka and Pozen conducted clinical studies to prove the combination of sumatriptan and naproxen was safe and effective to reduce relapse and produce longer lasting efficacy to migraine sufferers. Id. at 98:17-102:9; 10/12/10 P.M. at 3:8 — 5:5; JTX 9, 72, 73, 76, 141, 142 (Treximet clinical studies and reports). The studies showed that simultaneous administration of sumatriptan and naproxen not only treats migraines more effectively than sumatriptan or naproxen alone, it is also effective in preventing the migraine from returning within the first twenty-four hours. Id. Following the success of the clinical trials, GSK chose to license the therapy, Treximet, and became Pozen’s marketing partner, licensee, and exclusive distributor in the United States. 10/12/10 P.M. at 5:6-7:l; PTX498.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Pozen Inc. v. Par Pharmaceutical, Inc.
696 F.3d 1151 (Federal Circuit, 2012)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
800 F. Supp. 2d 789, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 86619, 2011 WL 3439527, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pozen-inc-v-par-pharmaceutical-inc-txed-2011.