Teva has seen several claims in patents protecting its innovator multiple sclerosis (MS) drug Copaxone (glatiramer acetate) knocked down by a US appeals court. The ruling means that Teva could face generic competition for the US$4-billion-a-year drug 16 months earlier than previously expected.

It was this that the challenge was based on; that is, the description of the molecular mass of Copaxone in some of the claims was ambiguous. For some claims, Teva had described molecular mass based on how many molecules in a sample have molecular masses that fall within a set range, such as “copolymer-1 having over 75% of its mole fraction within the molecular weight range from about 2 kDa to about 20 kDa”. And the court said this language was not ambiguous.

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