The much-anticipated trial in the biosimilar litigation over Enbrel® has been pushed from April, to June and now to September.  Although Amgen ($AMGN) has asserted five patents against Sandoz’s ($NVS) proposed biosimilar, Erelzi®, the focus of the case are the two Roche patents directed to the entanercept protein itself.  And yet, a skirmish has erupted related to one of the three other patents, which collectively cover indications for using entanercept to treat psoriasis indications.

Sandoz was denied institution on two IPRs against Humira® patents owned by AbbVie.  As we previously discussed, in late 2017, Sandoz filed eight different IPRs against Humira® patents.  Two of those IPRs just failed to reach institution.  What are the take-aways, for Sandoz and any other Humira® biosimilars?