Eli Lilly Was Involved in Patent Suit by Johnson & Johnson

Eli Lilly, the 10th largest pharmaceutical company in the world, Johnson & Johnson (J&J), a multinational medical device, pharmaceutical and consumer packaged goods manufacturer were recently involved in court issues according to the report of Bloomberg.

With a new late-stage study being prepped for the Alzheimer's drug solanezumab, Eli Lilly had to be showed in a London courtroom this week to defend itself against a patent claim by Johnson & Johnson. J&J is one of its chief rivals in the competition of Alzheimer's drug development.

J&J says that Janssen Alzheimer Immunotherapy Research & Development, a part of it, has a valid patent that is infringed on by solanezumab. Responding to the claims, Lilly argues that the case could delay the arrival of a new therapy for Alzheimer's in the U.K. before the J&J patent expires in 2018.

Both companies have had antibodies in Phase III designed to reduce levels of amyloid beta in Alzheimer's patients. The theory is that if a new drug can reduce levels of the toxic material in the brains of patients, then they can have an impact on the symptoms and progression of the memory-wasting disease which afflicts millions of people. But while both solanezumab and J&J's bapineuzumab failed Phase III, Lilly is going back to follow up on a signal it tracked in one study indicating that its drug had an impact on cognition in early-stage patients.

While the jury is still out on whether Eli Lilly has a product worth defending, it's been making the case that its drug uses a different mechanism of action, which should help the court reject J&J's claim

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