Viatris Hypertension Drug Doesn’t Copy J&J Patents, Court Says

Viatris Inc. convinced an appeals court that its generic version of a Johnson & Johnson unit’s hypertension drug Veletri doesn’t infringe a pair of patents.

The patents—owned by J&J unit Actelion Pharmaceuticals Ltd. and related to its Veletri drug—aren’t infringed by Viatris’ proposed drug because the generic falls below a pH range specified in the patents, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said.

The US District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia was right to rely on evidence that showed the measurement should be taken at standard temperature, which, in turn, means the Viatris generic ...