04:28 PM EDT, 05/08/2024 (MT Newswires) -- AstraZeneca ( AZN ) and Merck ( MRK ) filed suits this week in a federal court in New Jersey alleging generic medications sold by Natco Pharma and Sandoz Group are infringing on US patents recently issued for the plaintiffs' Lynparza cancer drug.

Lynparza was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for treating certain types of ovarian, breast, pancreatic and prostate cancers. AstraZeneca ( AZN ) and Merck ( MRK ) previously sued Natco Pharma and Sandoz Group in December 2022 and again in December 2023 and February 2024 to protect their Lynparza franchise using other patents and intellectual property, contending the generic versions would infringe on patents underlying Lynparza.

No trial has been set in those cases, according to AstraZeneca ( AZN ). The two new patents, 11,970,530 and 11,975,001, were issued on April 30 and May 7, respectively, with the new suit filed on Tuesday reinforcing the plaintiffs' prior assertions.

An AstraZeneca ( AZN ) spokesperson told MT Newswires that the company does not comment specifically on pending litigation, but said it was "confident in the strength of its IP covering Lynparza," and is prepared to defend it.

None of the other companies involved in the cases immediately responded to MT Newswires seeking comments.