Eisai gets favorable ruling against Teva

Japanese drugmaker Eisai's US subsidiary says that the US District Court for the District of New Jersey has ruled in its favor with respect to Eisai's motion for a preliminary injunction in its patent infringement law suit against Israel headquartered generics giant Teva Pharmaceuticals and its division Gate Pharmaceuticals, concerning Aricept (donepezil HCl), its Alzheimer's disease drug.

As previously announced, Eisai filed the infringement actions in December 2005 contesting Teva's submission of an Abbreviated New Drug Application to the US Food and Drug Administration for Aricept, which generated sales of $1.6 billion in the USA for the 12 months to September 30, 2007, acording to IMS Health data, and whose patent it due to expire in 2010.

"We are pleased with the court's preliminary injunction decision to prevent the sale of Teva's generic product before the expiration of the donepezil composition of matter patent," said Hajime Shimizu, chief executive of Eisai Corp of North America and Eisai Inc. "We will continue to actively protect our intellectual property throughout the world," he added.