The Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis has lost a lawsuit in the USA over a patent for its heart drug Entresto.
The US District Court for the District of Delaware has declared the combination patent for Entresto invalid, a spokesman said on Friday evening at the request of AWP after corresponding rumors in the market had dragged down the Novartis share price.
According to media reports, the court ruled that Novartis’ patent claims were invalid due to the lack of a written description. Novartis sued several drug manufacturers in 2019 for developing generic versions that allegedly infringed Entresto’s patent.
According to the Novartis spokesman, however, according to the current state of knowledge, no generic Entresto product has received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration. “Pending a final appeal decision and other ongoing litigation involving multiple patents, any commercialization after FDA approval of a generic drug would be ‘at risk,'” the spokesman said.
According to him, Novartis next plans to apply to the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to overturn the district court’s ruling.
Novartis shares suddenly fell significantly in late Swiss stock trading in the afternoon after the first rumors about the lost judgment became known. At times, the shares lost almost 4.7 percent. The shares ended up 3.15 percent lower and tore down the entire SMI shortly before the market closed because of their weight.
In the first quarter, Novartis made just under $1.4 billion with the sale of Entresto. Total revenue for the group was $12.9 billion in the first quarter.
/tv/AWP/he
BASEL (dpa-AFX)
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