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WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court on Monday declined to consider a patent dispute between biotech drug maker Amgen Inc. and two other companies involving Amgen's blockbuster anemia drug Epogen.
Despite passing on this case, justices have shown a heightened interest in patent law recently, taking up a half-dozen cases in the past two years and issuing two high-profile decisions in April.
Amgen initiated the dispute in 1997 when it accused Aventis Pharmaceuticals Inc., a unit of Paris-based Sanofi-Aventis SA, and Shire Human Genetic Therapies Inc., a division of British drug developer Shire PLC, of infringing its patents on Epogen. Aventis was previously known as Hoechst Marion Roussel Corp.
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