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BASF unit rejected by U.S. Supreme Court on Lovaza patent
BASF unit rejected by U.S. Supreme Court on Lovaza patent
Listen to this articleThe U.S. Supreme Court refused to reinstate a patent that had protected BASF SE’s Lovaza heart medicine from generic competition, sealing a legal victory for Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. and Par Pharmaceutical Cos.
The justices on Monday turned away an appeal by BASF’s Pronova unit over the Omega-3 fish-oil capsules. The rebuff left intact a federal appeals court decision invalidating the patent because the invention had been in public use too long.
The appeals court decision, issued in September, was a blow to BASF’s Pronova unit and Amarin Corp., which makes a competing medicine.
Teva, based in Petach Tikva, Israel, began selling the first generic version of Lovaza in April, cutting into what had been a $1.1 billion U.S. market for Pronova. BASF, based in Ludwigshafen, Germany, bought Pronova in 2013.
The case is Pronova v. Teva Pharmaceuticals, 13-1251.
