Dechert Secures Federal Circuit Affirmance of Patent Trial Victory for Endo Pharmaceuticals

Dechert LLP secured affirmance of its hard-fought patent trial victory for Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc. relating to Endo’s OPANA® ER tablets. The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the trial court’s ruling that two of Endo’s patents covering OPANA® ER are valid and would be infringed by the defendants’ proposed generic copies of the product.  

Dechert had prevailed against seven manufacturers of generic drugs following a five-week bench patent trial  in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, when Judge Griesa found in August 2015 that all seven companies’ generic products infringed both of Endo’s patent and enjoined all of those companies from selling their generic copies of OPANA® ER tablets, thereby protecting Endo’s substantial investments in the research and development of OPANA® ER.  Judge Griesa also ordered that Actavis remove its generic product from the market.  The Federal Circuit affirmed those rulings in full. 

As a result of the affirmance, none of the generic versions of OPANA® ER involved can come to market before Endo’s patents expire in 2023.  

The Dechert team advising Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc. was led by partner Martin Black, and included partners Robert Rhoad, Kevin Flannery and Jonathan Loeb, and associates Sharon Gagliardi, Brian Goldberg, Joe Gribbin, and Blake Greene.  

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