A Bitter Pill to Swallow: Teva's $235M Challenge to GSK Dismissed by Supreme Court

The U.S. Supreme Court turned away hearing Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc's TEVA challenge to a $235 million award to GSK plc GSK in a patent dispute over a heart medication generics.

The case involves "skinny labels," which allow generic players to avoid patent lawsuits if a generic drug's label does not use a potentially infringing brand-name drug.

GSK sued Teva in Delaware federal court in 2014 over the generic version of its heart drug Coreg, Reuters reported. 

Teva argued that it followed FDA instructions to "carve out" from its label a patented method for using the drug to treat heart failure.

A jury awarded GSK $235 million in 2017. A judge overturned the verdict, but the patent-focused U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reinstated it in 2020, stating that Teva's label encouraged doctors to prescribe the generic that, potentially, was a way of patent infringement.

In March, the Biden Administration told the U.S. Supreme Court that it should agree to hear a patent appeal over drug labels involving Teva Pharmaceuticals and GSK Plc that could have significant consequences on the generic-drug industry.

The U.S. Solicitor General said Teva's generic version of GSK's heart drug Coreg could not have violated GSK's patent rights because Teva omitted the infringing use of the drug from its labeling.

Price Action: TEVA shares are up 0.93% at $8.11, and GSK shares are up 0.56% at $36.73 on the last check Monday.

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