Janssen Biotech, a unit of Johnson & Johnson, filed a suit against Samsung Bioepis in the United States alleging that the Korean company has violated its patent rights.

The suit, filed to the US District Court of New Jersey on May 17, is seeking to block US sales of Samsung Bioepis‘ biosimilar of Janssen’s drug Remicade, which is used to treat autoimmune conditions including Crohn‘s disease and rheumatoid arthritis. Remicade is Johnson & Johnson’s top-selling drug.

Biosimilars are highly similar copies of medicines that have lost patent protection, which are sold at a lower cost than the original drug.

Samsung Bioepis received a permit from the US Food and Drug Administration last month to sell the drug, known as Renflexis in the US. Bioepis currently plans to begin selling Renflexis within the year.

Another Remicade copy is already being sold in the US by another Korean biopharmaceutical company, Celltrion. Celltrion was able to release Remsima -- known as Inflectra in the US -- into the market with no problem, despite facing a similar patent infringement suit from Janssen.

Inflectra brought in sales of $17 million in the US between November and March, according to the first-quarter earnings report from Pfizer, which handles marketing of Remsima in the US.

“We are confident we do not infringe Janssen’s patents, as Renflexis was developed through our own heavy investments and years of research. We believe Janssen’s frivolous lawsuit is aimed at delaying the market entry of Renflexis, and we will take all necessary measures against Janssen’s attempts to violate patient rights and deny patient access to effective, lower cost treatment options,“ Samsung Bioepis said through a statement provided to The Korea Herald. 

By Won Ho-jung (hjwon@heraldcorp.com)