Genentech Patent Case Against Natco Pharma Reassigned in NJ Court

Genentech, Inc. and its co-plaintiffs filed suit against Natco Pharma Limited in case number 24-cv-11308, a patent dispute that follows the well-worn path of brand-name pharmaceutical companies challenging a generic manufacturer's attempt to enter the market.

The case is active, and as of April 20, 2026, the court issued a reassignment order — meaning a new judge has taken the wheel, though no judge is yet named on the public docket.

Natco Pharma is an Indian generic drug company with a history of filing Abbreviated New Drug Applications (ANDAs) that trigger Hatch-Waxman patent litigation.

When a generic manufacturer certifies that a brand's patent is invalid or will not be infringed — a so-called Paragraph IV certification — the brand has 45 days to sue and freeze FDA approval for up to 30 months. That clock and that dynamic almost certainly explain why this case exists.

Genentech is a Roche subsidiary and one of the more aggressive patent holders in the biologics and small-molecule drug space. The specific drug or patent claims at issue are not yet detailed in the available docket entries, but the reassignment order suggests the case is moving through early administrative stages rather than sitting dormant.

The reassignment itself is procedurally routine — courts shift cases for workload balance, recusal, or random draw — but it resets the clock on any scheduling orders the prior judge may have contemplated. Until a new judge is formally assigned and a scheduling conference is set, the parties are in a holding pattern on discovery and claim construction.