UK Supreme Court rules in favor of low dose Cialis patent

The UK Supreme Court has handed down a unanimous decision in a case between generics firm Actavis and Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) subsidiary ICOS, finding that discoveries from routine research can be rewarded with a patent.

Lawyers in the case, which relates to a low dosage form of erectile dysfunction drug Cialis (tadalafil), contended that novel and inventive dosage regimes should be patentable.

The court agreed that “efficacious drugs discovered by research involving standard pre-clinical and clinical tests should be rewarded with a patent if they meet the statutory tests."