Leading players lose US lacosamide appeal

Several of the world’s leading generics players, including Teva, Mylan, Apotex and Aurobindo, have failed to convince the US Court of Appeals that the sole US patent listed against UCB’s Vimpat (lacosamide) tablets is invalid. Reissued US drug-substance patent RE38,551 protects until 17 March 2022 the Vimpat epilepsy brand that experienced a 19% rise in US sales last year to C746 million (US$874 million).