Panacea Biotec sues Sanofi for patent infringement

New Delhi PANACEA Biotec on Monday said it has filed a suit before the Delhi High Court seeking to restrain Sanofi Healthcare India from marketing a fully liquid hexavalent vaccine.

The national capital-based firm said a case has been filed in order to stop infringement of its patent for fully liquid whole cell pertussis based fully liquid Hexavalent vaccine EasySix.

"The suit filed against Sanofi comes at the heels of Sanofi having received marketing approval for a Whole Cell Pertussis based Hexavalent vaccine by the Drugs Controller General (India)," Panacea Biotec said in a regulatory filing. On May 11, 2021, when the suit was listed before the Delhi High Court, after elaborate submissions from both parties, Sanofi undertook that it could not manufacture or market any product which infringes the amended claims of Panacea patent, it added.

Panacea said Sanofi has been contesting the patent before the Indian Patent Office since 2017, where the dispute has spilled before the Bombay and Delhi High Courts in 2018 and 2019, respectively. The EasySix vaccine comes in a pre-filled syringe and is used to vaccinate against Diphtheria, Tetanus, Whooping Cough, Hepatitis B, Haemophilus influenza Type B and Inactivated Polio.

EasySix has been in the market since 2017 and the company expects it to be a part of government vaccination, immunisation programmes, both domestically and internationally, Panacea Biotec noted. Panacea Biotec shares were trading 1.63 per cent down at Rs 374.30 apiece on the BSE.