Biotech compay Amgen (NASDAQ AMGN) announced that a U.S. Federal District Court in Boston today denied Roche's motion to dismiss Amgen's patent infringement lawsuit against Roche. The court today also denied a motion by Ortho Biotech to intervene as a co-plaintiff in the case.

"The judicial process can now move forward towards resolution of the substantive issue of patent infringement and we look forward to addressing the merits of this case," said David Scott, Amgen's senior vice president, general counsel and secretary.

Amgen continues to believe that Roche's peg-EPO product violates Amgen's patents and does not provide any clinical or patient benefit over Amgen's innovative therapies, EPOGEN® (Epoetin alfa) and Aranesp® (darbepoetin alfa).

Amgen revolutionized anemia treatment with the introduction of EPOGEN. EPOGEN, along with Aranesp, represent over four million combined patient-years of experience. Amgen has continued to invest heavily in research to improve the lives of patients with kidney, cancer and cardiovascular disease.