Appeals court affirms invalidation of Yasmin patent

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Nasdaq: TEVA) announced today that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has affirmed a ruling by the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey finding Bayer Schering's U.S. Patent No. 6,787,531 invalid.

The patent is listed in the Orange Book for Bayer's oral contraception Yasmin®.

On June 24, 2008, Barr Laboratories, Inc. (now a wholly owned subsidiary of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Ltd.) announced that it had entered into a supply and licensing agreement with Bayer for distribution of a generic version of Yasmin®. Under the terms of that agreement, Bayer supplies Barr with the generic product, which Barr distributes in the U.S. under the Barr Laboratories label, Ocella. Ocella was launched in July, 2008 and had annual sales of approximately $170.2M in the United States for the twelve months that ended December 31, 2008, based on IMS sales data.