GCIShield Therapeutics notes TEVA’s withdrawal of patent challenge
The company, which addresses iron deficiency with its lead product Feraccru®/Accrufer®, said the move from the American-Israeli pharmaceutical giant means that European patent No.2668175 has become final and will be maintained as amended on March 14 last year.
It also withdraws opposition to Patent No. 3160951 "Crystalline Forms of Ferric Maltol", meaning the patent is maintained as granted, providing protection until October 2035.
STX received notice back in 2019 that Teva Pharmaceutical Industries had appealed a ruling by the European Patent Office (“EPO”) regarding its Feraccru® iron deficiency treatment.
Shares in Shield Therapeutics have almost doubled in value since August 2020 from 91p and were trading 0.75% higher this morning at 136p following the announcement.
The news followed an EPO decision in March 2019 when it found in favour of Shield in relation to patent #2668175 which covers a "Process for preparing an iron hydroxypyrone".
At the time, analysts at house broker Peel Hunt informed shareholders that appeals of this kind were ‘typical’ of the generics industry and that the original decision and breadth of the Feraccru®/Accrufer® patent provided ‘significant defensibility’ for the company’s IP.
"We are delighted that the European Patent Office has decided not to continue proceedings following the withdrawal of the opposition by TEVA and saw no reason to amend the patent as originally granted,” commented Lucy Huntington-Bailey, Shield's General Counsel.
She added, “This publicly demonstrates the validity of the patent and the strength of defence that Shield provided to robustly defend its patents."
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