Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. is asking the Supreme Court
to delay the possible market entry of generic versions of its
blockbuster multiple-sclerosis drug Copaxone.
The high court announced last week it would consider a Teva
appeal that could revive one of its Copaxone patents that expires
in September 2015. Other Teva patents on the drug, which accounted
for $3.2 billion in U.S. sales in 2013, are set to expire in May,
meaning generic competitors potentially could enter the market at
that time.
The Supreme Court won't hear Teva's appeal until the court's
next term, which begins in October. A ruling may not come until
2015.
Teva, in new court papers, is asking the justices to postpone
the effect of a lower court decision that invalidated the 2015
patent while the Supreme Court case proceeds.
Teva said in its new filing that the Supreme Court's
intervention is needed before May "to ensure that its decision on
the merits next term will not come effectively too late to prevent
irreparable harm to Teva."
Write to Brent Kendall at brent.kendall@wsj.com
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