Dr.Reddys Labs had a bad start to the week today. The stock fell almost 2.5% to Rs.2280 and continues to remain in the red.

The company lost a legal battle against Eli Lilly. This was a patent litigation on Alimta which is a drug used for treatment of various types of cancer in USA. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana ruled in favor of Lilly.

The Court ruled that Almita vitamin patent would be infringed by the competitor that had stated its intent to market alternative salt forms of pemetrexed prior to the patent's expiration in May 2022. The Judge ruled that Eli Lilly had done extensive research on the discovery of Almita and stated that its patent thus deserved intellectual property protection.

What this ruling means to Dr.Reddy’s? It cannot launch its alternative salt forms of the pemetrexed until the patent expires, which is May’22.