New Italo/US Group Seeks UK, Other Alliances

A Tel Aviv, Israel, court has granted permission to Eli Lilly to alter its claim in such a way that any restriction granted on Teva's production of a generic version of the Eli Lilly-developed Prozac (fluoxetine) will be valid for three years from the date of the decision. This replaces Lilly's original request for a three-year ban from the date of patent expiry (Marketletter September 11, 1995).

The central claim made by Lilly is that Teva undertook development of its generic version prior to patent expiry, and that this gave it a three-year advantage in getting a product to market. The request for the alteration comes after the fluoxetine patent expired last year.

On the Israeli market, apart from Lilly's Prozac and Teva's generic version, two other formulations of fluoxetine have just been launched. One of these is being packaged by Taro and marketed by Lilly's local agent; the other is a generic film-coated tablet form made by Unipharm, a company specializing in central nervous system and gastroenterology products.