High Court Rejects Lilly’s Prozac Appeal
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected Eli Lilly & Co.’s appeal of a patent ruling that allowed generic drug maker Barr Laboratories Inc. to sell a version of the antidepressant Prozac.
The justices let stand a U.S. appeals court ruling that resulted in Lilly losing patent protection in August for Prozac, which in recent years has boosted the company into the top 10 U.S. drug makers.
Barr, based in Pomona, N.Y., challenged the validity of Lilly’s Prozac patent in a long-running legal battle to allow generic competition for the drug, which had sales of more than $2.5 billion in 2000.
Shares of Lilly rose 60 cents to $77, while Barr Labs rose 44 cents to $78.31, both on the New York Stock Exchange.
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