English Appeal Court Rules In Favor Of Teva In Copaxone Patent Case

(RTTNews) - Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd (TEVA) said Monday that the Court of Appeal for England and Wales has found in favor of the company, upholding the validity of the asserted claims of UK patent 762,888 relating to Copaxone, following an appeal brought by Generics [UK] Ltd., a subsidiary of Mylan Laboratories Inc. In the litigation, Generics [UK] had applied to the court to revoke the patent and also grant a declaration of non-infringement for its purported generic version of Copaxone. The High Court and the Court of Appeal have now both upheld the validity of the patent and denied the application for a declaration of non-infringement. The patent is not due to expire until May 2015.

Any potential generic version of COPAXONE would require a marketing authorization from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency before it could be commercialized.