J&J wins appeals court ruling against Teva and Viatris in patent dispute over neuro drug

A U.S. appeals court has sided with Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) in a patent dispute with Viatris (NASDAQ:VTRS) and Teva Pharmaceutical (NYSE:TEVA) over the company’s neurology drug Invega Sustenna.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled on Tuesday that Viatris (NASDAQ:VTRS) and Teva (NYSE:TEVA) failed to demonstrate that patent innovations related to Invega Sustenna were obvious, a decision that would block their attempt to launch generic versions of the drug in the U.S.

The appeals court upheld a lower court ruling in which a U.S. District Judge in New Jersey ruled in November that Israel-based Teva (NYSE:TEVA) failed to invalidate a J&J (NYSE:JNJ) patent related to the Invega Sustenna dosing regimen. The arguments against J&J (NYSE:JNJ) were considered as presented by both Teva (TEVA) and Viatris (NASDAQ:VTRS).

The dispute came after the New Brunswick, New Jersey-based pharma giant filed patent infringement lawsuits beginning in January 2018 over the generic drugmakers’ attempts to seek FDA approvals to market off-patent versions of the drug.

Used to treat schizophrenia in adults, J&J’s (JNJ) Invega class of drugs has generated $3.1B in U.S. sales in 2024 with ~8% YoY growth.