ZURICH—Amgen Inc. rejected Roche’s offer to pay a licensing fee so it could launch the rival anemia drug Mircera in the United States, according to a report by Thomas Financial.
Roche offered to pay Amgen approximately 20 percent of new U.S. Mircera sales while Amgen’s erythropoietin patents are still in effect. According to court documents, the Roche offer was double the royalty rate that Johnson & Johnson pays Amgen in order to sell Procrit.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Mircera in November 2007 to treat anemia in chronic kidney disease patients. Amgen, however, filed suit and a jury ruled that Mircera infringed on 11 Amgen patents, which are used to make its anemia drugs Epogen and Aranesp.
