Teva Novopharm Announces Federal Court Ruling Invalidating Eli Lilly's Zyprexa(R) Patent

Teva Novopharm, a leading provider of affordable healthcare solutions, is pleased to announce that the Federal Court of Canada today invalidated Eli Lilly's Canadian Patent No. 2,041,113 (the '113 patent) for the compound olanzapine (Zyprexa(R)), used in the treatment of schizophrenia and bipolar I disorder. The Federal Court judgment issued today by The Honourable Mr. Justice O'Reilly sided, for a second time, with Teva Novopharm's arguments in ruling that Eli Lilly's '113 patent is invalid and, therefore, not infringed by Novo-Olanzapine.

As a result, Teva Novopharm will continue to supply Canadians with Novo-Olanzapine, a cost-effective equivalent to Eli Lilly's Zyprexa(R).

By challenging the validity of Eli Lilly's '113 patent, Teva Novopharm succeeded in launching Novo-Olanzapine in June 2007, four years prior to the expiry of the '113 patent in April 2011. This launch was a breakthrough legal success and one of the largest generic launches in Canadian history, ensuring unprecedented savings for patients, provincial drug plans and third party drug plan sponsors. Today, the average number of olanzapine prescriptions in Canada each year is currently 1.92 million(1), of which Novo- Olanzapine is used to fill over 1.27 million(1). This has resulted in a savings to Canadians of over $138 million(2) since the launch of Novo-Olanzapine in 2007. Without Teva Novopharm challenging Eli Lilly's olanzapine compound patent, these savings would not have been realized. Eli Lilly would have gone on to enjoy a second period of market monopoly (one already enjoyed for over 10 years) at the expense of Canadian patients who would have had no cost-effective alternative to Zyprexa(R) (olanzapine) until the '113 patent expired in April 2011.