Neurontin ruling overturned by US court

The US Court of Appeals has overturned a 2005 ruling, which granted a summary judgement that several generic drugmakers had not infringed upon a patent covering US drug giant Pfizer's epilepsy treatment Neurontin (gabapentin). The appeals court said that the decision should not have been issued, and that a full patent infringement trial should be held to decide the case.

In the original case, Pfizer alleged that Israeli generic drugmaker Teva Pharmaceutical Industries had infringed upon US patent number 6,054,482 when it began shipping gabapentin tablets in 2004 (Marketletters passim). The following year, the US District Court for the District of New Jersey ruled that Pfizer was unable to prove that Teva, as well as Alpharma, Apotex and Eon Labs all of which manufacture generic versions of the anticonvulsant, had violated the patent in question.

Pfizer said that the Appeals Court decision would allow it to seek an infringement ruling which, if successful, would form the basis of subsequent damages and compensation claims that it intends to pursue. Pfizer's share price rose 0.3% to $24.60 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange on the day of the announcement, September 21. In contrast, Teva's share price fell 0.4% to $43.23.