The UK Court of Appeal has upheld the validity of the patent behind Eli Lilly's schizophrenia treatment drug olanzapine.
The UK Patents Court had earlier rejected Dr Reddy's attempts to have the patent revoked, including on the grounds that olanzapine fell within a list of more than 80,000 possible compounds claimed in an earlier patent.
The Court of Appeal dismissed Dr Reddy's appeal on all counts.
The UK has traditionally been seen as a relatively patentee-unfriendly jurisdiction, but Rob Fitt of Bristows said that today's decision confirmed the UK's increasing tendency to uphold the validity of pharmaceutical patents.