Amgen Sought Leave to Appeal Filgrastim Decision to the Supreme Court of Canada

On August 9, 2016, Amgen Canada Inc (Amgen) filed an application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada from the Federal Court of Appeal (FCA) decision in Amgen Canada Inc v Apotex Inc, 2016 FCA 196 (SCC Case No. 37124).  The FCA dismissed Amgen’s appeal from Hughes J’s dismissal of Amgen’s application seeking to prohibit the Minister of Health from issuing a Notice of Compliance (NOC) to Apotex Inc (Apotex) in respect of its proposed filgrastim product (Amgen’s NEUPOGEN®).  The FCA dismissed the appeal, because it was moot due to the issuance of the NOC following Hughes J’s decision.  The FCA held that the fact that Apotex had commenced a section 8 claim against Amgen for the delayed generic entry was not a principled basis for hearing the appeal despite being moot.

The FCA and FC decisions can be found here (2016 FCA 196) and here (2015 FC 1261).

Summary By: Junyi Chen