Teva Pharmaceuticals to appeal ruling on Prevacid patent

North Wales, Pa. Teva Pharmaceuticals plans to appeal a district court ruling that stated it failed to prove that the '098 patent on Takeda’s acid reflux disease drug Prevacid is invalid or unenforceable.

Takeda Pharmaceutical sued Teva in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware after Teva filed an application for a generic version of Tap Pharmaceutical's Prevacid delayed-release capsules. Takeda and Abbott Laboratories recently decided to conclude the Tap joint venture, with Takeda retaining the rights to Prevacid.

At trial last year, Teva argued that Takeda's '098 and '321 patents are invalid due to obviousness and that the '098 patent is unenforceable due to inequitable conduct, according to the March 31 opinion. Teva conceded that its proposed generic would infringe on the '098 patent, while Takeda argued that it also would infringe on the '321 patent.

The '098 patent covers Prevacid and expires in May 2009. The '321 patent, which covers combining Prevacid with magnesium carbonate to stabilize the compound, will expire this September.

Prevacid had sales in 2007 of over $3.3 billion according to the Food and Drug Administration.