Teva Leapfrogs One ANDA Sponsor But Faces Decade Wait On US Firdapse Opportunity

At Medicines for Europe’s legal affairs conference last month, divisional patents were once again a major subject of discussion. Attendees heard fresh details of how patentee games are preventing generics from hitting the market and restricting wider access to major medicines.

Novartis has filed an immediate appeal after a US district court ruled that MSN Labs would not infringe one of its key patents shielding its $7.8bn Entresto brand, and denied the originator injunctive relief.

Just days after Viatris was frustrated in its attempts to challenge IP protecting Janssen’s Invega Trinza, the US Federal Circuit has rejected the firm’s and Teva’s bid to invalidate a patent shielding the one-month version of the brand, Invega Sustenna.

Pro-innovator voices argued that the number of patents asserted in the pharma industry is not too dissimilar to other fields. But should drugs be compared to golf balls?