A US District Court in California denied a motion filed by Amgen to delay the launch of the first biosimilar approved in the US.

Sandoz, Novartis’s generic business unit, had agreed to delay the launch of its biosimilar Zarxio in the US until May 11. Amgen, which markets Neupogen, hoped to push this date back even further. Zarxio is the biosimilar of Neupogen.

Amgen argued that “it would suffer irreparable harm from ‘immediate and irreversible price erosion’” if Sandoz launched Zarxio during the appeals process, according to BioCentury. The court said in its denial that the drugmaker’s argument is speculative and “does not merit injunctive relief.”

The same court “denied a basket of other claims and motions in the case.” Amgen is appealing those decisions to the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.