Subject: CAFC Ruling on 2003 Prozac Patent
From: [email-masked]
Cc: [email-masked], [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 30 May 2001 15:02:58 -0700 (PDT)

We learned today that the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has modified its opinion of August 9, 2000 in which it found the 2003 Prozac patent invalid for double patenting.  In essence, the Court has again ruled that the patent is invalid for double patenting, but has used a different analysis to reach this conclusion.   
We intend to seek legal review of today's decision.  Although it is possible that the legal review process could delay Barr from entering the market on August 3, we continue to plan for Barr launching generic fluoxetine at that time. 
On a related note, in our current litigation with Zenith/Reddy-Cheminor, Zenith used the prior Barr decision to allege that the olanzapine patent was invalid for double patenting. The reversal of the August 9 decision removes that argument from Zenith's presentation of its case.   
Attached to this message are copies of press releases issued by Lilly and Barr regarding the CAFC's decision. 
    
Please do not hesitate to call me if you have any questions in this regard. 
Alecia DeCoudreaux
 - Prozac - Adverse Reconsideration.doc 
 - Barr Victorious in Challenge of Prozac Patent.doc