Novartis sues as Amgen tries to cancel migraine tie-up

Novartis and Amgen have become embroiled in a legal row over rights to the migraine prevention drug Aimovig, as sales of a new class of injected drugs begin to mount. Amgen’s Aimovig (erenumab), was already close to the end of its clinical development process two years ago this month when Novartis expanded a marketing agreement over the drug, building on a neurology pact dating back to 2015. Aimovig was approved in the US last May and under the agreement, Novartis co-markets the drug in the US, and markets the drug exclusively in Canada and the rest of the world, except for Japan, where Amgen still has rights. It’s this deal that Amgen wants to walk away from, sparking a legal dispute between the US pharma and Novartis that looks set to run and run. Amgen has said Aimovig’s launch has been a huge success, with sales of $95 million in Q4 alone.