Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Nasdaq: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) announced today that the US Patent Office had awarded a five year patent term extension to one of Teva's Orange Book patents covering Azilect.
Azilect is Teva's innovative pharmaceutical product for the treatment of Parkinson's disease. The patent, which was originally scheduled to expire on February 7, 2012, will now run until February 7, 2017.
More than 80% of Teva's sales are in North America and Europe. The company is the world's largest generic drugs producer, but almost a third of its revenue derives from original drugs, chiefly MS treatment Copaxone.
Last year, Phase III trial results were published showing that Azilect was the only capable of delaying the progress of Parkinson's disease.
Teva's first quarter financials released yesterday showed that sales of Azilect rose as its market share grew in the US and Europe, to a total of $55 million.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on May 6, 2009
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