Eli Lilly wins lawsuit brought by Amylin Pharmaceuticals
Amylin intends to pursue the litigation to enforce rights in diabetes agreement
Eli Lilly has won a ruling in a lawsuit brought by Amylin Pharmaceuticals, which wants to prevent Lilly from using the same salespeople to sell Amylin’s diabetes drug Byetta (exenatide) and Boehringer Ingelheim’s linagliptin.
The US District Court for the Southern District of California ruled in Lilly’s favour and denied Amylin’s request for a preliminary injunction that would have imposed restrictions on Lilly’s diabetes sales force.
‘We are pleased with the Court's decision,’ said Robert Armitage, senior vice president and general counsel for Lilly.
‘We have complied with our contractual obligations under our agreements with Amylin, and we believe that Amylin's allegations against Lilly are entirely without merit and we fully expect to prevail in this litigation.’
Amylin, based in San Diego, sued Lilly last month, saying the manner in which Lilly plans to implement an agreement to develop and sell Boehringer Ingelheim’s type 2 diabetes drug breached its agreement to develop and commercialise Amylin’s competing drugs.
Amylin Pharmaceuticals said: ‘We are disappointed by the Court's decision not to issue a preliminary injunction. Amylin continues to believe that Lilly's conduct violates our diabetes collaboration agreements, is anti-competitive and limits patients' treatment options. We intend to vigorously pursue the litigation to enforce our legal and contractual rights.’
