Amgen and Novartis file dueling lawsuits over their deal to market a migraine drug
In an unexpected development, Novartis (NVS) and Amgen (AMGN) filed competing lawsuits over a potentially lucrative relationship to jointly develop and market Aimovig, a new type of migraine treatment that some Wall Street analysts expect will become a multi-billion-dollar market.
The trigger for the dispute was a deal between Sandoz, the generic unit at Novartis, which agreed to do contract manufacturing work for Alder BioPharmaceuticals, which is developing its own migraine treatment. Amgen contended the deal breached its contract with Novartis, while Novartis argued Amgen is using this as a “pretext” to keep Aimovig profits for itself.
