Teva Copaxone Appeal Decision Delayed by U.S. Supreme Court
2014-03-10 16:56:47.13 GMT
By Greg Stohr
March 10 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Supreme Court deferred a
decision on whether to hear an appeal by Teva Pharmaceutical
Industries Ltd. that aims to delay generic competition to its
top-selling Copaxone multiple-sclerosis drug.
The justices took no action today on Teva’s bid for a
hearing and are now scheduled to consider the case at their
March 21 private conference, according to the court’s public
docket.
Teva is seeking to revive a patent that would protect
Copaxone from generic rivals until September 2015. Without that
patent, Teva will lose legal protection this May on Copaxone,
which brings in $3.2 billion in annual U.S. sales and accounts
for more than half the company’s profit.
Teva is battling drugmakers that are planning to offer
generic versions in May: Momenta Pharmaceuticals Inc., which has
developed a version with Novartis AG’s Sandoz, and Mylan Inc.
The court issued a list of orders today from its March 7
conference. The Teva case was originally scheduled for
consideration at that conference. The court, which often defers
decisions on pending appeals, is scheduled to issue its next set
of orders on March 24.
A ruling last year by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Federal Circuit upheld four Teva patents that expire in May
while invalidating a separate patent that would have blocked
generic competition until September 2015.
In November, Chief Justice John Roberts refused to put the
Federal Circuit ruling on hold while the high court decided
whether to take up Teva’s appeal.
The case is Teva v. Sandoz, 13-854.
