Emergent's Narcan opioid overdose nasal spray is getting first generic competition from Teva and Sandoz (via Emergent Biosolutions)

Te­va and No­var­tis’ San­doz launch Nar­can gener­ics on same day, brand mar­keter Emer­gent re­mains in play

Te­va and No­var­tis’ San­doz re­cent­ly launched gener­ic ver­sions of Nar­can on the same day, but it like­ly wasn’t a co­in­ci­dence. Both first-to-mar­ket gener­ics for Nar­can, an opi­oid over­dose res­cue nasal spray, are FDA ap­proved, but on­ly San­doz’ ver­sion is au­tho­rized by Nar­can’s brand mar­keter Emer­gent BioSo­lu­tions.

Emer­gent, which ac­quired Adapt Phar­ma and the Nar­can nasal spray in 2018, has been in a pro­tract­ed patent lit­i­ga­tion with Te­va over its gener­ic ver­sion. The FDA ap­proved Te­va’s nalox­one hy­drochlo­ride nasal spray in April 2019 as the first Nar­can gener­ic, but Emer­gent filed a law­suit al­leg­ing Te­va in­fringed on Adapt patents. A de­ci­sion in 2020 ruled in fa­vor of Te­va, but Emer­gent ap­pealed. This past sum­mer a three-judge US Court of Ap­peals pan­el heard Emer­gent’s case but had yet to ren­der a fi­nal de­ci­sion.

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