BRIEF—Panacea Biotec files suit against Sanofi

India’s Panacea Biotech has sued Sanofi from launching a pediatric vaccine that protects against six diseases.

The suit before the Delhi High Court sought to restrain Sanofi Healthcare India from marketing a fully liquid hexavalent vaccine, that would infringe Panacea’s patent for its fully liquid whole cell pertussis based fully liquid hexavalent vaccine, EasySix.

The EasySix vaccine comes in a pre-filled syringe and is used to vaccinate against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis B, hemophilus influenza Type B and inactivated polio.

Panacea expects it to be a part of the government's immunization programs.

Panacea Biotec said the suit filed against Sanofi comes on the heels of the French pharma major having received marketing approval for a whole cell pertussis based Hexavalent vaccine by the DCGI.

EasySix has been in the market since 2017. Panacea said Sanofi has been contesting the patent before the Indian Patent Office since 2017, where the dispute has spilled before the Bombay and Delhi High Courts in 2018 and 2019, respectively.

On May 16, 2021, after the suit was listed before Delhi High Court and after elaborate submissions from both parties, Sanofi undertook that it could not manufacture or market any product which infringes the amended claims of Panacea's patent.