Now German court rules against Lilly in Alimta vitamin regimen patent case

7 March 2015

The German Court of Appeal has ruled that US pharma major Eli Lilly’s (NYSE:LLY) vitamin regimen patent for its lung cancer drug Alimta (pemetrexed disodium) would not be infringed by generic competitor Actavis (NYSE: ACT) that intends to market a dipotassium salt form of pemetrexed in Germany once the compound patent expires in December 2015.

The German Court ruled in favor of the generic competitor in the case of Eli Lilly and Company versus Actavis. This decision vacated the prior decision of the Regional Court of Dusseldorf in April 2014. Lilly’s share fell 3.1% to $68.41 by close of trading on Friday.

The compound patent for Alimta in Germany remains in force and is expected to provide exclusivity through December 2015. For the full year of 2014, worldwide Alimta sales increased 3% to $2.79 billion.

This article is accessible to registered users, to continue reading please register for free. A free trial will give you access to exclusive features, interviews, round-ups and commentary from the sharpest minds in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology space for a week. If you are already a registered user please login. If your trial has come to an end, you can subscribe here.

Try before you buy

Free

7 day trial access

Take a Free Trial

All the news that moves the needle in pharma and biotech
Exclusive features, podcasts, interviews, data analyses and commentary from our global network of life sciences reporters.
Receive The Pharma Letter daily news bulletin, free forever.

Become a subscriber

£820

Or £77 per month

Subscribe Now

Unfettered access to industry-leading news, commentary and analysis in pharma and biotech.
Updates from clinical trials, conferences, M&A, licensing, financing, regulation, patents & legal, executive appointments, commercial strategy and financial results.
Daily roundup of key events in pharma and biotech.
Monthly in-depth briefings on Boardroom appointments and M&A news.
Choose from a cost-effective annual package or a flexible monthly subscription

The Pharma Letter is an extremely useful and valuable Life Sciences service that brings together a daily update on performance people and products. It’s part of the key information for keeping me informed

Chairman, Sanofi Aventis UK