Singapore: The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has affirmed a prior ruling by the US District Court for the District of Delaware that Eli Lilly's compound patent for Alimta (pemetrexed) is valid. The compound patent provides protection for Alimta in the US through January of 2017.

Mr Robert A Armitage, senior VP and general counsel, Eli Lilly and Company, said that, "We are pleased with today's ruling from the Court of Appeals affirming the validity of the compound patent for Alimta. By affirming the district court ruling, we believe that the Court fairly applied long-standing patent law principles."

"Protection of intellectual property rights is extremely important to the biopharmaceutical industry and the physicians and patients we serve, as these rights help support the development of the next generation of innovative medicines to treat unmet medical needs," he added.