Eli Lilly wins Alimta appeal at English Court of Appeal

The English Court of Appeal has ruled in favour of Eli Lilly, finding that a patent covering its blockbuster lung drug Alimta (pemetrexed disodium) would be infringed by a product proposed by Actavis, now Allergan.

The decision, issued on Thursday, June 25, takes effect in the UK as well as in France, Italy and Spain.

Actavis began using the name Allergan in June this year after acquiring the company in March.

In a previous decision by the English High Court in May 2014, Actavis was granted a declaration of non-infringement of the patent, Eli Lilly’s European patent number 1,313,508.

The patent covers the use of Alimta’s active ingredient “in the manufacture of a medicament for use in combination therapy with vitamin B12 and, optionally, folic acid”. It is due to expire in the UK in June 2021.

Actavis argued that because it intended to use different pemetrexed salts—either pemetrexed diacid, pemetrexed ditromethamine or pemetrexed dipotassium—in its proposed product, as opposed to the patented pemetrexed disodium, it would not infringe Eli Lilly’s patent.

It did not challenge the ‘508 patent’s validity during the court proceedings.

Eli Lilly countered that there would either be direct or indirect infringement of the ‘508 patent.

In the May 2014 judgment, Justice Richard Arnold agreed with Actavis that the proposed product would not infringe the patent in the UK nor in France, Italy or Spain.

But in Thursday’s ruling, Lord Justices Andrew Longmore, David Kitchin and Christopher Floyd overturned that judgment, finding that there would be contributory infringement. However, they did concur with Arnold that there was no direct infringement.

Allergan declined to comment.

An Eli Lilly spokesperson told LSIPR: “We are pleased with the UK Court of Appeal’s ruling... This decision increases the likelihood that the vitamin regimen patents for Alimta will provide exclusivity in these markets through June 2021.”

Alimta generated worldwide sales of $2.7 billion last year, according to Eli Lilly.