The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal from Acorda Therapeutics Inc. regarding patents for the company's multiple sclerosis drug Ampyra.
Ardsley, N.Y.-based Acorda appealed a lower court's September 2018 decision to invalidate four patents for Ampyra, a decision which sent the company's stock price down by 24.5% at the time. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit had upheld a previous decision from the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware that also invalidated the patents. However, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office had upheld the patents in 2017.
Ampyra was first discovered in 1902, with Acorda taking up continued research in 1998, according to the company's petition to the Supreme Court. Several companies had previously tried to develop the drug into a treatment for multiple sclerosis but had abandoned efforts. Acorda was eventually granted an exclusive license to develop the drug and pursued a pathway that involved lower doses that would not put patients at risk of seizures.
The company filed for a patent application in 2004 after a development breakthrough and was later granted four patents, the petition said. Ampyra was eventually granted U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval and was the first drug approved to treat walking in MS patients. The drug has recorded sales of $1.7 billion since 2010, Acorda said.
Generic-drug companies Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., Mylan NV and Roxane Laboratories eventually sought to create a generic version of Ampyra, which sparked the litigation.
Shares of the company declined just under 7% as of 10:52 a.m. ET on Oct. 8.
A spokesperson for Acorda said in a statement that the Supreme Court's decision is the final step in the litigation, but declined to provide further comment on the matter.
