Perkins Coie IP Lawyers Secure Federal Circuit Victory for Biopharmaceutical Company Amarin

WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 8, 2024)—Perkins Coie is pleased to announce that a team of intellectual property lawyers led firm client Amarin Corporation to victory before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in a high-profile appeal relating to “skinny label” litigation against generic competitor Hikma.  

In an underlying lawsuit, Amarin accused Hikma of inducing doctors to prescribe generic Vascepa off-label for treating patients’ cardio-vascular risk generally. The Federal Circuit appeal managed by the Perkins Coie legal team challenged the district court’s dismissal of Amarin’s lawsuit because Amarin’s complaint was insufficient to demonstrate infringement.   

After a successful oral argument on June 25 by Perkins Coie partner Nathan Kelley in front of a wild-card panel with a district court judge sitting by designation, the panel issued a precedential opinion unanimously reversing the district court’s dismissal order and sending the case back for further proceedings on the merits.  

Amarin, based in Dublin, Ireland and Bridgewater, New Jersey, is a rapidly growing biopharmaceutical cardiovascular care company that develops and markets treatments for cardiovascular disease. 

In addition to Nathan Kelley, the Perkins Coie IP team that successfully represented Amarin included partner David Fournier, associate Nathanael Andrews, and paralegal Nelo Keith Lang. 

The internationally recognized Intellectual Property practice at Perkins Coie consists of more than 275 lawyers and agents in the United States and Asia, over 80 percent of whom have degrees in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), including 60 with STEM master’s degrees and 30 with Ph.Ds. In the past five years, we have handled well over 100 patent appeals and writ proceedings in the Federal Circuit, earning an impressive record of 50 wins, 13 losses, and 2 mixed results in cases decided on the merits.