Amylin wins first round in squabble with Lilly over diabetes link with Boehringer

In an initial win for US biotech firm Amylin Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: AMLN), the US District Court for the Southern District of California has issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) against drug major Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) relating to its litigation with respect to the two companies diabetes collaboration agreement established in 2002.

The District Court restrained Lilly from proceeding with its plans to use the same sales force to sell both exenatide (the active ingredient of both Byetta and still to be cleared follow-on drug Bydureon) and independent German drug major Boehringer Ingelheim's competitive diabetes drug candidate linagliptin, which is part of a multi-million dollar agreement between these two firms (The Pharma Letter January 12).

The court also enjoined Lilly from disclosing any confidential information about exenatide to any of its sales representatives or employees participating in the marketing, promotion or sale of linagliptin which, following approval by the Food and Drug Administration earlier this month was soon set to join the USA’s $16.9 billion diabetes market under the trade name Tradjenta (TPL May 4).