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news.Endo International has won a preliminary injunction in the US, barring QuVa Pharm from introducing a compounding drug that could compete with its Vasostrict, the vasopressin injection indicated to increase blood pressure in adults with vasodilatory shock.
Image: Vasostrict was approved in the US in 2014. Photo: courtesy of Par Sterile Products, LLC, an indirect subsidiary of Par Pharmaceutical, Inc.
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The injunction was obtained by Endo’s subsidiaries Par Pharmaceutical and Par Sterile Products (Par) from US District Judge Brian Martinotti.
The order will prevent QuVa Pharma from marketing and launching its planned vasopressin product till the ongoing trial gets concluded, the date of which is yet to be known.
Par alleges that the co-founders of QuVa Pharma, Stuart Hinchen and Peter Jenkins, had poached several of its employees with knowledge of Vasostrict, and use it for creating a competing product. Both Hinchen and Jenkins were also former employees of Par.
In last August, Par made a complaint against QuVa and a number of other individual defendants in the US District Court for the District of New Jersey. It mainly alleged that the defendants had misused its trade secrets to develop a bulk compounded vasopressin product.
Endo executive vice president and chief legal officer Matthew Maletta said while the company is all for fair competition, the same will not extend to misappropriation of valuable information.
Maletta added: “We initiated this litigation because we have a responsibility to protect our Company and prevent other parties from obtaining an improper and unfair advantage in the marketplace.
“We look forward to pursuing this case through trial where we will seek permanent injunctive relief, together with the recovery of all appropriate damages from QuVa, the individual defendants and potentially other parties not yet named in the litigation.”
Par Pharmaceutical was acquired by Endo for $8.05bn in 2015.
Prior to that, in November 2014, Par bagged the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for Vasostrict (vasopressin injection, USP) 20 units/mL. The approval is for increasing blood pressure levels in adults with vasodilatory shock who are hypotensive, in spite of taking fluids and catecholamines.
