US Appeals Court reinstates pause on MSN's generic of Novartis' Entresto

Novartis won an order from a U.S. appeals court in Washington on Thursday temporarily blocking MSN Pharmaceuticals from launching a generic version of Novartis' heart-failure drug Entresto, per a Reuters report.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ordered MSN not to launch its drug while it considers Novartis' request for a longer ban on the generic version.

The Federal Circuit's ruling comes hours after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit lifted a similar pause on the launch that had gone into effect Wednesday night, the report said.

The FDA approved MSN's version of Entresto last year. Novartis sued MSN and others seeking to launch Entresto generics for patent infringement.

[Read more: Novartis can't block MSN’s generic Entresto]

The Federal Circuit last week reversed a 2023 decision that invalidated one of the patents. Novartis argued in a court filing that the ruling maintained the company's exclusive rights to sell Entresto until July, per the report.

Novartis said MSN was preparing to launch its generic on Thursday, the day Novartis' patent expired. U.S. district courts in Washington and Delaware rejected Novartis' requests on Wednesday for a mandate that would immediately block the generic, the report noted.