English High Court upholds Copaxone patent

The ruling is a major setback for Mylan's efforts to market a generic version of Teva's multiple sclerosis treatment before 2015.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) today announced that the High Court for England and Wales has ruled in Teva's favor in the patent litigation case it brought against Mylan Inc. (NYSE: MYL) subsidiary Generics (UK) Ltd. to protect Teva's multiple sclerosis treatment, Copaxone. The High Court found that Teva's European patent for Copaxone was valid through May 23, 2015.

Today's ruling is another major setback for Mylan and its efforts to produce and market a generic version of Copaxone before 2015.

Generics (UK) had sought to obtain a declaration that its proposed generic version of Copaxone would not infringe the drug's European patent and to revoke the patent's expiration date. The High Court ruled in Teva's favor on both counts.

The English High Court's ruling comes less than three weeks after a similar ruling in the US. On June 23, the US District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled in Teva's favor in its patent infringement lawsuit against Momenta Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq: MNTA)/Sandoz Inc. and Mylan/Natco Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (BSE: 524816) over Copaxone. The court ruled that Teva's US Copaxone patents are valid. The last of these patents expires on September 1, 2015. The judge ruled against Momenta/Sandoz and Mylan/Natco’s claims that the Copaxone patents were invalid and unenforceable, and found that the purported generic versions of the drug for which Momenta/Sandoz and Mylan/Natco seek Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval infringed those patents.

Teva's share price rose 0.9% by early afternoon on the TASE, following the announcement, to NIS 156.90, after rising 0.1% on the New York Stock Exchange yesterday to $39.29, giving a market cap of $34.2 billion.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 11, 2012

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2012

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