On October 15, 2019, the Swiss Federal Patent Court held in Eli Lilly v. Sandoz Pharmaceuticals that the Swiss part of Eli Lilly’s patent EP 1 313 508 B1 regarding the use of the anti-cancer drug pemetrexed in combination with a vitamin B12 is valid – reported here.

On 1 May 2020, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court fully rejected Sandoz’ appeal. The Swiss decision is the first final court decision on validity concerning this patent in a number of actions still ongoing in Europe. The court’s reasoning will be published in a few weeks and we will provide a further update then.

A copy of the decision (in German) can be read here.

Reported by: Christian Hilti, Demian Stauber and Andrea Carreira, RENTSCH PARTNER