Last week, we received the official court scheduling order in the AMRN vs. Hikma and Health Net patent litigation in the District of Delaware. See schedule below*. The schedule has the trial starting on October 30, 2023, which was not surprising given the proposed schedule from the parties (See my prior free blog post HERE or full subscriber post HERE). Keep in mind that this schedule is not written in stone, but likely the trial will NOT occur any sooner. However, it could get pushed out. For example, a stay can be granted for various reasons, which could push out the trial date. As one example, a stay could be granted if the defendants file, and U.S. Patent Office (USPTO) grants, an IPR Petition to invalidate the patents asserted by AMRN in the USPTO instead of in this litigation proceeding. The defendant's have until 11/30/21 to decide whether to file an IPR Petition in the USPTO. There are numerous other reasons that a stay could be granted and/or the trial date can be extended.
It is also noteworthy that the court's scheduling order included a referral to a magistrate judge for the mandatory settlement conference that occurs in all patent lawsuits. In a post at a later date, we'll provide our comments on the likelihood that the AMRN vs. Hikma and Health Net case will settle within the next 12 months.
This most recent AMRN v. Hikma and Health Net is one of 3 active patent cases that we are watching that are highly relevant to AMRN's patent fight against generic competition, and thus AMRN's valuation. Currently, there is a lot of activity in all these cases, with important dates coming by the end of June for all of them. If you want to learn more about these 3 cases we are filing, for BPIQ.com subscribers (free 30-day trial, no credit card), today we posted in the BPIQ forum a synopsis of these 3 U.S. patent cases we are watching closely, including the current status, key near-term dates, and some deeper analysis with respect to these upcoming activities.
For investors interested in AMRN, I recommend that you check out my video presentation HERE, that explains the differences between the first patent litigation against generic companies, and the second AMRN patent litigation against the generic company Hikma. We have made this presentation (and all my prior presentations on AMRN's initial lawsuit against generic drug companies) available with a free 30-day trial subscription to BPIQ (no credit card and intro rate of <$20/month). Just go to our home page (http://bpiq.com) and follow the links to sign up. Then check out our much deeper BPIQ forum post from today, as well as our AMRN pipeline page, and our AMRN litigations IQ Card.
*Current schedule for AMRN v. Hikma and Health Net litigation
Joinder of Parties and Amendment of Pleadings due by 11/22/2021.
Fact Discovery completed by 8/18/2022.
Opening Expert Reports due by 9/19/2022.
Rebuttal Expert Reports due by 10/17/2022.
Reply Expert Reports due 11/16/2022.
Expert Discovery due by 12/16/2022.
Status Report due by 3/31/2022.
Dispositive Motions due by 3/30/2023.
Joint Claim Construction Brief due by 2/23/2022.
A Markman Hearing is set for 3/30/2022 at 01:00 PM before Judge Jennifer L. Hall.
Joint Proposed Pretrial Order due by 10/9/2023.
A Pretrial Conference is set for 10/13/2023 at 09:00 AM before Judge Richard G. Andrews.
A 5 day Jury Trial is set for 10/30/2023 at 09:30 AM in Courtroom 6A before Judge Richard G. Andrews. (*See Order for complete details).
Signed by Judge Jennifer L. Hall on 5/4/2021.
