Celgene gets US patent let-off ahead of BMS merger

Shares in Celgene ticked up yesterday after a let-off in a US court case challenging the patents on its multi-billion dollar cancer drug Revlimid, a decision that could ease shareholder tensions ahead of a potential merger with Bristol-Myers Squibb. Celgene’s biggest-selling drug Revlimid (lenalidomide) is used in several multiple myeloma uses and has been on the US market since 2005. Since then Celgene has built one of the world’s most lucrative drug franchises around Revlimid, a derivative of thalidomide, and its full-year sales for 2018 were $9.7 billion, an increase of 16% year on year. In the US alone, sales in 2018 were almost $6.5 billion, making the aging drug one of the hottest targets for generics companies in the US when its patent expires in 2022. For now, Celgene’s big earner looks safe from cheaper competition from generics, after the US patent office threw out an attempt by Alvogen for a review challenging patents on Revlimid.