[Ip-health] Federal court upholds Eli Lilly Zyprexa patent

[Benjamin Krohmal]

http://www.examiner.com/
a-475491~Federal_court_upholds_Eli_Lilly_Zyprexa_patent.html

Federal court upholds Eli Lilly Zyprexa patent
The Associated Press
Dec 26, 2006 2:00 PM

WASHINGTON - Eli Lilly & Co. won another round in its legal battle
with several generic pharmaceutical companies Tuesday when a federal
appeals court upheld a 2005 ruling by a lower federal court that the
company's patent on its anti-psychotic drug Zyprexa is valid.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said it found "no
reversible error" in an April 2005 ruling by a federal district court
in Indiana and affirmed the ruling.

Lilly's patent on Zyprexa protects it from generic competition until
2011. The drug is Lilly's top-selling product, racking up $1.08
billion in sales in the third quarter of 2006, or 28 percent of the
company's total revenue that quarter.

The case stems from a challenge by generic drugmakers Zenith Goldline
Pharmaceuticals, owned by IVAX Corp. of Miami; Dr. Reddy's
Laboratories of India; and the U.S. arm of Israeli-based Teva
Pharmaceutical Industries, which argued that Lilly's patent is invalid.

Shares of Eli Lilly rose 37 cents to $51.74 in afternoon trading on
the New York Stock Exchange, while American depositary shares of Teva
increased 14 cents to $31.51 on the Nasdaq.



Benjamin Krohmal
Consumer Project on Technology
Tel: +1-202-332-2670 ex. 14
Fax: +1-202-332-2673
ben.krohmal@cptech.org