Eli Lilly and Company announced that the trial on the validity of the compound patent for Alimta (pemetrexed for injection) before the US District Court for the District of Delaware ended with a ruling from the court that judgment would be entered in Lilly's favour, thereby upholding the patent's validity. The decision came in the case of Eli Lilly and Company et al v. Teva Parenteral Medicines Inc. The patent provides protection for Alimta until July of 2016.

“We are pleased that the District Court has now confirmed the validity of Alimta's compound patent,” said Robert A. Armitage, senior vice president and general counsel for Lilly. “We continue to emphasize that protection of intellectual property rights is extremely important to the biopharmaceutical industry and the patients we serve. These rights provide assurances of market exclusivity that help support the development of the next generation of innovative medicines to treat unmet medical needs” he said.

Lilly, a leading innovation-driven corporation is developing a growing portfolio of pharmaceutical products by applying the latest research from its own worldwide laboratories and from collaborations with eminent scientific organizations.