Wednesday 25 May 2022
Before Lord Justice Birss
The Applicant Claimants apply for permission to appeal the order dated 26 April 2022 of Mr Justice Roth sitting in the Patents Court, by which he refused permission for an interim injunction restraining the Defendants and refused permission to appeal.
Background
The application concerns a prescription-only pharmaceutical drug called fingolimod, used a disease modifying treatment (“DMT”) for relapse remitting multiple sclerosis (“RRMS”), which is one of the three main types of MS. It is supplied in the UK by Novartis under the brand name “Gilenya”. Gilenya was launched in the UK in 2011. The regulatory and market exclusivity for Gilenya expired on 22 March 2022. On 2 March The Claimants applied for an urgent interim injunction to restrain the generic Defendants, all of whom have received marketing authorisation for their generic version of fingolimod, from entering the UK market. The application was heard just over two weeks after it was issued. Following the hearing, some further information was received from the parties in writing, and the Judge then informed them that the application for interim relief was refused.
