Commenting on the ruling, Robert Armitage, Lilly’s senior vice president and general counsel said: “These decisions, if not overturned, undermine intellectual property protection in Canada and Germany and erode the incentives of pharmaceutical and biotech companies to make the high-risk investments necessary to discover and develop breakthrough medicines.
“We believe we must take a strong stand on behalf of innovators and intend to take every possible step to protect what we continue to believe are intellectual property rights regarding the validity of the Zyprexa patents in Canada and Germany through 2011.”
Mr Armitage also pointed out that these rulings have no bearing on Lilly’s Zyprexa patents in other international markets, including the US patent, which had been upheld on appeal in December 2006, and will remain in effect until 2011.
Furthermore, Lilly revealed that it did not expect the rulings to have a material impact on the company’s financial condition, and still expects the same adjusted earnings outlook for Q2 2007.