Teva drops migraine-drug patent case against Eli Lilly

Nov 24 (Reuters) - Israel-based drugmaker Teva Pharmaceuticals (TEVA.TA) has agreed to end a patent lawsuit over Eli Lilly's (LLY.N) migraine drug Emgality following a U.S. Patent Office decision that invalidated the Teva patents at issue, according to a filing in Massachusetts federal court.

Teva and Lilly told the court on Wednesday that they would dismiss the case with prejudice, which means it cannot be refiled.

Representatives for the companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Friday.

The filing follows a judge's decision in September to overturn a $176.5 million jury verdict for Teva in a separate patent case against Lilly over the same drug. Teva has since appealed the judge's ruling that the patents in that case were also invalid.

Teva filed the lawsuit that was dismissed on Wednesday in 2021. It accused Lilly of infringing two patents related to Teva's competing migraine drug Ajovy.

Lilly earned more than $650 million from Emgality sales worldwide last year, while Teva earned $377 million from Ajovy, according to company filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

A U.S. Patent Office tribunal found in September that Teva's two patents were invalid based on earlier publications that disclosed the same methods for treating migraines with antibodies.

Teva said in the Wednesday court filing that it would not appeal the decisions or sue Lilly over the patents at issue in this case again.

The case is Teva Pharmaceuticals International GmbH v. Eli Lilly & Co, U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, No. 1:21-cv-10954.