In the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

August Term 2023 No. 22-0427-cv

REGENERON PHARMACEUTICALS, INC., Plaintiff-Appellant, v. NOVARTIS PHARMA AG, NOVARTIS TECHNOLOGY LLC, NOVARTIS PHARMACEUTICALS CORPORATION, VETTER PHARMA INTERNATIONAL GMBH, Defendants-Appellees.

On Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York

ARGUED: OCTOBER 11, 2023 DECIDED: MARCH 18, 2024 Before: PARKER, LEE, and MERRIAM, Circuit Judges.

Plaintiff-Appellant Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. appeals from a judgment of the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York (Hurd, J.) dismissing under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) Regeneron’s claims alleging antitrust violations and tortious interference with contract. On appeal, Regeneron contends that the district court erred in concluding that it failed to plead the existence of a relevant antitrust market and also erred in dismissing, as untimely, its tortious interference claim. Because we agree with Regeneron on both grounds, we REVERSE the judgment of the district court and REMAND for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

ADAM BANKS, (Joshua Halpern, Elizabeth S. Weiswasser, Eric S. Hochstadt, & Anish R. Desai, on the brief), Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, New York, NY & Washington, D.C., for Plaintiff-Appellant

WILLIAM JAY, (Ian Simmons, Lisa Pensabene, Stephen J. McIntyre, & Melissa C. Cassel, on the brief), O’Melveny & Myers LLP, Washington, D.C., New York, NY, Los Angeles, CA & San Francisco, CA, for Defendants-Appellees Novartis Pharma AG, Novartis Technology LLC, and Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp.

Benjamin T. Horton & Julianne M. Hartzell, on the brief, Marshall Gerstein & Borun LLP, Chicago, IL, for Defendant-Appellee Vetter Pharma International GmbH

MATTHEW M. HOFFMAN, (Anisha S. Dasgupta & Joel Marcus, on the brief), Federal Trade Commission, Washington, D.C., and Jonathan S. Kanter, Daniel E. Haar, Nickolai G. Levin, & Andrew N. DeLaney, on the brief, United States Department of Justice, Antitrust Division, Washington, D.C., Amici Curiae in Support of Neither Party BARRINGTON D. PARKER, Circuit Judge:

The resolution of this appeal turns on the definition of the relevant antitrust product market. The products in question are prescription medications used to treat the overproduction of vascular endothelial growth factor (“VEGF”), a naturally occurring protein that, if overproduced, can lead to various eye disorders and, in some cases, to permanent blindness. Both Plaintiff-Appellant Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Regeneron”) and Defendant-Appellees Novartis Pharma AG, Novartis Technology LLC, and Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation (collectively, “Novartis”) produce “anti-VEGF” medications to combat the overproduction of VEGF. Regeneron produces EYLEA, while Novartis produces LUCENTIS.

For several years after they were first introduced, anti-VEGF medications were packaged into vials and administered in a two-step process. A doctor would first fill a syringe with medicine from an anti-VEGF vial and then inject the drug into a patient’s eye. The newer versions of the medications are sold in prefilled syringes (“PFSs”) and administered in one step. PFSs contain the same medication as vials but are injected directly into the patient’s eye. This simpler process carries a sig