Federal Judge Gives Lilly Win on Alimta Regimen Patent

   By Nishant Mohan 
 

Eli Lilly & Co. said Friday that a U.S. District Court issued a ruling protecting the patent on one of its top-selling drugs from a competitor's product until at least 2022.

Indianapolis federal court Judge Tanya Walton Pratt ruled Dr. Reddy's Laboratories' salt forms of pemetrexed infringed on Eli Lilly's patent on Alimta, a pemetrexed injection. Lilly's patent covered the administration of the chemotherapy treatment with vitamins.

Alimta, a drug developed to treat advanced non-small cell lung cancer, constituted about $1 billion, or 5%, of Lilly's world-wide revenue in 2017. Alimta was the company's second-highest revenue-generating treatment last year.

"Lilly's extensive research to discover the Alimta vitamin regimen patent deserves intellectual property protection," Michael Harrington, Lilly's general counsel, said in prepared remarks.

A representative for Dr. Reddy's couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

Lilly has been cautioning investors about potentially "severe declines in revenue" due to the expiration of patent protections on drugs. Cialis was the company's top-selling individual drug in 2017, but it is facing expirations of two patents on the drug this year.

Lilly shares were unchanged at $85.92 in after-hours trading.

Write to Nishant Mohan at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 22, 2018 18:03 ET (22:03 GMT)

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